Debaters9  Handbook  Series 


SELECTED  ARTICLES 

ON 

IMMIGRATION 


COMPILED  BY 
MARY  KATHARINE  REELY 

\\ 


Second  Edition 


WHITE  PLAINS.  N.  Y.,  AND  NEW  YORK  CITY 
THE    H.    W.    WILSON    COMPANY 

1917 


1st  Edition,  August,  1915 
2d  Edition.  February,  1917 


v 


EXPLANATORY  NOTE 


This  book  is  made  up  in  two  parts.  Part  i,  devoted  to  Euro- 
pean immigration,  consists  of  a  debate  on  the  question  of  immi- 
gration restriction,  with  briefs,  bibliographies  and  selected 
articles  for  both  sides  of  the  question.  Following  these  comes 
a  small  group  of  articles  bearing1  on  the  war  and  immigration. 
Since  August,  1914,  immigration  from  Europe  has  been  held  in 
check.  What  will  happen  after  the  war  is  a  matter  of  conjecture 
on  which  opinion  divides.  On  one  point  all  are  agreed,  however : 
The  United  States  now  has  an  opportunity  to  look  at  the  ques- 
tion squarely  and  to  make  preparations,  either  for  the  exclusion, 
or  for  the  reception  and  better  treatment  of  those  who  may  come 
when  the  war  is  over,  whether  they  come  in  greater  or  in  lesser 
numbers. 

Part  2  is  devoted  to  Asiatic  immigration — the  problem  of  the 
Pacific  coast.  This  problem  involves,  in  addition  to  the  usual 
difficulties  presented  by  incoming  aliens,  questions  of  international 
relations  and  states  rights.  To  include  all  these  in  one  debate 
was  difficult.  Nevertheless  an  attempt  was  made,  and  it  is  hoped 
that  the  brief  offered  may  prove  suggestive  to  students,  whatever 
phase  of  the  problem  they  may  choose  to  work  out. 

Acknowledgments  are  due  to  Mr.  R.  E.  Cole,  Counsel  on 
Naturalization  and  Municipal  Organization  for  the  Committee 
for  Immigrants  in  America,  who  read  the  brief  on  European 
immigration  and  offered  valuable  suggestions. 

M.  K.  R. 

White  Plains,  July,  1915. 


f\f\f*f\A      I 


EXPLANATORY  NOTE  FOR  SECOND 
EDITION 


Since  the  publication  of  this  handbook  in  1915  the  question 
of  restricting  immigration  by  means  of  a  literacy  test  has  again 
come  before  Congress.  The  House  passed  the  bill  but  the  Senate 
decided  to  hold  it  over  for  another  session.  Discussions  of  im- 
migration during  the  year  have  been  concerned  largely  with  the 
problem  of  Americanizing  the  immigrant.  With  the  exception 
of  a  bibliography  no  new  material  on  this  subject  has  been 
added  to  this  volume,  but  attention  may  be  called  to  the  articles 
included  in  the  first  edition  by  Lajos  Steiner  (p.  204)  ;  Jane 
Addams  (p.  209),  and  Grace  Abbott  (p.  216).  Changes  in  this 
edition  consist  of:  a  revision  of  the  two  bibliographies,  bringing 
them  down  to  date;  a  revision  of  the  section  on  The  European 
War  and  Immigration  with  the  addition  of  new  reprints;  the 
addition  of  a  group  of  references  on  Americanization. 

M.  K.  R. 

November  n,  1916. 


CONTENTS 

PART    I 

EUROPEAN  IMMIGRATION 
BRIEF   n 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

General  References    19 

Affirmative  References   24 

Negative   References    27 

References  on  European  War 31 

References  on  Americanization 32 

Chart    34 

GENERAL  DISCUSSION 

United  States.    Immigration  Commission.     Conclusions  and 

Recommendations   35 

New  York.    Commission  of  Immigration.     Social  Condition 

of  Aliens  45 

Ripley,  W.  Z.    Races  in  the  United  States. Atlantic  Monthly  53 
Folkmar,  Daniel.    Results  of  the  First  Census  of  European 

Races  in  the  United  States Science  58 

Immigration  Legislation   61 

Maps    67-8 

AFFIRMATIVE  DISCUSSION 

Hall,  Prescott  F.    Future  of  American  Ideals 

North  American  Review      69 

Ross,  Edward  A.    Racial  Consequences  of  Immigration 

Century      72 


o  CONTENTS 

Fetter,  Frank  A.     Population  or  Prosperity 

American  Economic  Review      77 

Ward,  Robert  DeC.    National  Eugenics  in  Relation  to  Im- 
migration  North  American  Review      81 

.  Fairchild,  Henry  P.     Problems  of  Immigration Nation      84 

Devine,  Edward  T.     Immigration  as  a  Relief  Problem 

Charities      87 

Lauck,  W.  Jett.     Industrial  Communities Survey      90 

^TMitchell,  John.     Immigration  and  the  American  Laboring 

Classes Annals  of  the  American  Academy      94 

Lauck,  W.  Jett.     Vanishing  American  Wage-earner 

Atlantic  Monthly      98 

Dosch,  Arno.    Our  Expensive  Cheap  Labor.  .World's  Work     102 

Fairchild,  Henry  P.     Immigration  and  Crises 

American  Economic  Review     106 

Kent,  William.     Immigration Congressional  Record     113 

Ross,  Edward  A.    Immigrants  in  Politics Century     117 

Ward,   Robert   DeC.     Agricultural    Distribution   of   Immi- 
grants   Popular  Science  Monthly     120 

Devine,  Edward  T.     Selection  of  Immigrants Survey     129 

Lee,  Joseph.    Democracy  and  the  Illiteracy  Test Survey     131 

Burnett,  John  L.     Brief  in  Favor  of  the   Illiteracy  Test. 

Congressional   Record     134 

Parkinson,  W.  D.     Literacy  and  the  Immigrant 

Journal  of  Education     141 


NEGATIVE  DISCUSSION 

Andrew,    A.    Piatt.      Crux    of   the    Immigration    Question. 

North  American  Review  147 

Kohler,  Max  J.  Some  Aspects  of  the  Immigration  Problem. 

American  Economic  Review  150 

Brooks,  John  Graham.  Human  Side  of  Immigration 

Century  155 

Sulzberger,  C.  L.  Is  Immigration  a  Menace? 

National  Conference  Charities  and  Correction  161 

Matthews,  Brander.  American  of  the  Future Century  163 

Crosby,  Ernest.  Immigration  Bugbear Arena  166 

Grant,  Percy  Stickney.  American  Ideals  and  Race  Mixture. 

North  American  Review     169 


CONTENTS  7 

Claghorn,  Kate  Holladay.    Our  Immigrants  and  Ourselves. 

Atlantic  Monthly    171 

Willcox,    W.    F.    Popular    Delusions    about    Immigration. 

Independent    175 

Low,  A.  Maurice.    The  American  People 180 

Bailey,  W.  B.    Bird  of  Passage 

American  Journal  of  Sociology     183 

Hourwich,  Isaac  A.    Immigration  and  Labor;  a  Summary.     187 
Bennet,  William  S.     Effect  of  Immigration  on   Municipal 

Politics Nat.  Conf.  Good  City  Govt    197 

Coulter,  John  Lee.     Influence  of  Immigration  on  Agricul- 
tural Development Annals  of  the  American  Academy    200 

Steiner,  Lajos.    Our  Recent  Immigrants  as  Farmers 

Review  of  Reviews    204 

Immigration  and  the  South Nation    208 

Kellor,     Frances     A.       Needed — a    Domestic     Immigration 

Policy North  American  Review    209 

Abbott,  Grace.    Adjustment — not  Restriction Survey    216 

Addams,  Jane.  Pen  arid  Book  as  Tests  of  Character. Survey    219 

Illiteracy  and  Its  Significance New  York  Times    221 

Three  Veto  Messages: 

Grover  Cleveland  222 

William  H.  Taft 225 

Woodrow  Wilson   225 

Harvey,  George.    Bogy  of  Alien  Illiteracy 

North  American  Review    227 

EUROPEAN  WAR  AND  IMMIGRATION 

Kellor,  Frances  A.    A  Domestic  Policy 

Immigrants  in  America  Review    231 

Wanted — an  Immigration  Policy New  Republic    231 

Pasvolsky,  Leo.     Immigration  from  Russia  after  the  War. 

Survey    234 

Immigration  of  the  Year Outlook    237 

Howe,  F.  C.  Immigration  After  the  War 

Scribner's    Magazine    238 

Ward,  R.  DeC.    Immigration  and  the  War 

Scientific    Monthly    244 


8  CONTENTS 

PART  II 
ASIATIC  IMMIGRATION 

BRIEF 249 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

General  References    253 

Affirmative  References   255 

Negative  References   257 

GENERAL  DISCUSSION 

United    States.    Immigration    Commission.     Japanese    and 

Other  Immigrant  Races  on  the  Pacific  Coast 259 

Regulation  by  Treaty  and  Legislation 267 

AFFIRMATIVE  DISCUSSION 

Oriental   Immigration    Outlook  271 

Hayes,  E.  A.    Japanese  Exclusion..  ..Congressional  Record  273 

Dunn,  Arthur.     Keeping  the  Coast  Clear Sunset  275 

Nutting,  H.  C.    Immigration  from  the  Orient Nation  278 

Brooks,  Sydney.    Real  Pacific  Question.  ..Harper's  Weekly  281 
Kahn,    Julius.      Japanese    Question    from    a    Californian's 

Standpoint   Independent  283 

French,  Burton  L.     Shall  the  U.  S.  Exclude  Japanese  and 

Korean  Laborers  ?   Congressional  Record  286 

World's  Most  Menacing  Problem Collier's  287 

Phejan,  James  D.     Japanese  Question  from  a  Californian 

Standpoint   Independent  292 

NEGATIVE  DISCUSSION 

Hutchinson,  Woods.    Mongolian  as  a  Workingman 

World's  Work    29* 

California's  Hurtling  Japanese Literary  Digest    301 

Eliot,  Thomas  L.    Interests  Involved  in  Restricting  Oriental 

Immigration Annals  of  the  American  Academy    303 

Gulick,  Sidney  L.    Responsibility  of  American  Educators  in 

the  Solution  of  America's  Oriental  Problem 

National  Education  Association    306 

Aoki,  S.    Japanese  Immigration World's  Work    308 

Griffis,  W.  E.     Our  Honor  and  Shame  with  Japan 

North  American  Review    313 

Maxey,  Edwin.    Japanese-American  Relations Forum    314 

Gulick,  Sidney  L.   Problem  of  Oriental  Immigration.  Survey    318 


PART  I 


EUROPEAN  IMMIGRATION 


BRIEF 


Resolved,  That  immigration  to  the  United  States  from  Europe 
should  be  further  restricted  and  that  the  literacy  test  offers  the 
best  means  of  restriction. 


INTRODUCTION 

I.    The  character  of  immigration  has  changed. 

A.  The  number  of  immigrants  coming  from  the  northern 

European  countries  has  decreased. 

B.  The  number  of  immigrants  coming  from  the  southern 

European  countries  has  increased. 
II.    Conditions  in  the  United  States  have  changed. 

A.  The  public  lands  have  been  taken  up. 

B.  Population  is  congested  in  cities. 

C.  Our  industrial  system  has  developed  so  that  class  lines 

are  more  firmly  fixed. 

III.  In  this  debate  certain  questions  rising  out  of  the  above 

considerations  must  be  answered. 

A.  Is  the  new  immigration  inferior  to  the  old? 

B.  Can  it  be  assimilated? 

C.  Is  it  desirable? 

D.  Does  the  United  States  need  more  immigrants? 

E.  Are  the  present  laws  adequate  ? 

F.  What  new  restrictions,  if  any,  shall  be  imposed? 

IV.  The  Affirmative  will  take  the  stand  that  the  new  immi- 

gration is  inferior;  that  we  do  not  desire  or  need  it; 
that  it  is  already  proving  a  detriment  to  the  country; 
that  the  present  laws  are  not  adequate,  and  that  new 
restrictions,  chief  of  them  a  literacy  test,  should  be 
imposed. 

V.  The  Negative  will  take  the  stand  that  the  new  immigration 
is  different,  but  not  necessarily  inferior;  that  the  new 
immigrants  can  be  assimilated  and  that  the  country  has 
a  place  for  them;  that  they  can  be  made  into  good 

1 


12  BRIEF 

citizens  by  wise  direction  and  distribution;  that  the 
present  laws  are  adequate,  and  that  the  imposition  of  a 
literacy  test  would  be  unwise. 

VI.     When  we  speak  of  the  old  and  the  new  immigration  we 
shall  make  the  year  1880  the  date  of  division. 


AFFIRMATIVE 

I.    The  new  immigration  is  inferior  to  the  old. 

A.  The  new  immigrants  come  from  an  inferior  stock. 

1.  The  Latin  and  Slav  are  inferior  to  the  Teuton  in 

physique. 

2.  They  are  less  adapted  to  heavy  labor. 

3.  They  are  more  subject  to  infection  and  disease. 

B.  They  are  illiterate. 

C.  They  are  unskilled. 

D.  They  have  a  lower  standard  of  living  and  a  lower 

grade  of  morality. 
II.     The  new  immigrants  cannot  be  assimilated. 

A.  The  early  immigrants  (Germans,  Scandinavians,  etc.) 

belonged  to  the  same  race  stock;  they  were  easily 
amalgamated;  the  new  immigrants  will  not  mix 
with  these  nor  with  the  native  American  stock. 

B.  The  new  immigrants  herd  together  in  cities  ano   do 

not  learn  American  ways. 

C.  If  we  attempt  to  assimilate  this  crude  mass  one  of 

two  things  will  happen: 

1.  American  stock  will  be  replaced. 

a.    The  native  birth   rate  tends  to   decline    with 
immigration. 

2.  It  will  be  deteriorated  by  the  infusion  of  inferior 

blood. 

D.  Many  of  these  new  immigrants  have  no  intention  of 

making  homes  in  America. 

E.  Most  of  the  new  immigrants  have  strong  racial  preju- 

dices and  antipathies. 
III.    The  United  States  does  not  need  more  immigrants. 

A.    The^ public  lands  are  well  taken  up;  those  remaining 


BRIEF  13 

call  for  a  scientific  skill  not  possessed  by  the  new 
immigrants. 

B.  The  era  of  expansion  when  crude  labor  was  needed 

in  the  building  of  railroads,  etc.,  has  passed. 

C.  America  is  no  longer  called  on  to  furnish  an  asylum 

for  the  oppressed. 

1.  Immigrants   now   come  only  to  better  their  own 

economic  condition. 

2.  Immigration  is  encouraged  by  steamship  companies 

and  other  interested  agencies. 
IV.    The  new  immigration  is  undesirable ;  its  evil  effects  are : 

A.  Social. 

1.  The  standard  of  living  is  lowered. 

2.  The  problems  of  organized  charity  are  increased. 

3.  The  numbers  of  the  criminal  and  insane  classes  are 

increased. 

4.  The  problems  of  the  public  school  are  complicated. 

5.  A  caste  system  tends  to  become  fixed. 

6.  The  presence  of  large  numbers  of  immigrant  men 

living  a  non-family  life  lowers  the  moral  tone 
of  the  community. 

B.  Industrial  and  economic. 

1.  The  labor  market  is  overcrowded. 

2.  Wages  are  lowered  or  kept  down. 

3.  The  unemployment  problem  is  aggravated. 

4.  Labor  organization  is  weakened. 

5.  Large  sums  of  money  are  sent  out  of  the  country 

annually  or  taken  out  by  immigrants  who  re- 
turn to  their  European  homes. 

C.  Political. 

1.  The    new    immigrants    coming    from    monarchial 

countries  have  no  conception  of  the  ideals  of  a 
democracy. 

2.  They  lend  themselves  readily  to  political  corrup- 

tion. 

3.  Home  rule  for  cities  and  municipal  reforms  gen- 

erally have  been  delayed  by  the  presence  of 
large  bodies  of  alien  citizens  withip  a  city's 
population. 

4.  Many  have  anarchistic  ideas. 


14  BRIEF 

V.     Distribution  and  regulation  will  not  solve  the  problem. 
A.    Those  who  advocate  distribution  as  a  panacea  hope 
to   send  incoming  immigrants   to   agricultural   dis- 
tricts, but 

1.  The  present  immigrants  are  not  agricultural. 

2.  Those  who  have  been  accustomed  to  farm  labor  in 

their  own  country  have  worked  under  very  dif- 
ferent conditions  and  are  not  fitted  to  meet  the 
demands  of  an  undeveloped  country,  especially 
in  the  arid  regions  of  the  West. 

3.  The  demand  for  farm  labor  is  seasonal. 

4.  American   farmers    do   not   want   laborers   of  the 

new  immigrant  class. 

5.  The  South  does  not  want  .them. 

6.  The  immigrants  will  refuse  to  be  distributed.  They 

are  gregarious  and  live  in  groups  of  their  own 
kind  thru  choice.     They  will  not  consent  to  be 
isolated. 
VI.    The  present  laws  are  not  adequate. 

A.  They  let  in  the  ignorant,  illiterate  and  unskilled  who 

are  a  detriment  to  the  country. 

B.  By    making    the    country    easy    of    access,    they    give 

foreigners  a  false  impression  of  the  opportunities 
offered  here ;  they  come  only  to  be  disappointed. 

C.  They  give  employers  and  steamship  companies  an  op- 

portunity to  enrich  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the 
immigrant 

VII.     Of   the  proposed   restrictions   the   Affirmative    favors   the 
literacy  test,  because 

A.  It  would  restrict  numbers. 

B.  It  would  let  in  only  the  more  desirable  class. 

C.  It  would  not  materially  affect  the  immigration   from 

northern  Europe. 

D.  It  could  be  effectively  enforced. 


BRIEF  15 

NEGATIVE 

I.    The  new  immigration  is  different — not  necessarily  inferior. 

A.  The  Latin  and  Slav  races  possess  qualities  that  may 

enrich  American  life. 

1.  They,  especially  the  former,  have  a  love  for  beauty, 

color  and  music  and  an  appreciation  of  the  fine 
arts. 

2.  They  are  a  social  people  and  tend  to   dilute  the 

extreme  individualism  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  type. 

3.  They  are  more  adaptable  than  are  the  stolid  north- 

ern races. 

B.  They  come  from  lands  of  few  opportunities. 

1.  Experience  shows  that  under  new  conditions  they 

tend  to  outgrow  the  effects  of  the  old  environ- 
ment. 

a.  The  second   generation  shows  an  increase  in 

stature. 

b.  The    second    generation    readily    adopts    new 

standards    of    living,     new    ambitions    and 
ideals. 

2.  Their  illiteracy  is  due  to  lack  of  educational  op- 

portunities. 

a.  Our  foreign  residents  are  among  the  most  en- 

thusiastic supporters  of  the  public  schools. 

b.  Adults  eagerly  avail  themselves  of  night  school 

opportunities. 
II.    The  new  immigrants  can  be  assimilated. 

They  readily  learn  American  ways.     Those  returning 
to  the  old  countries  take  American  customs  back 
with  them  and  transform  their  old  villages. 
They  actually  are  assimilated  by  the  time  the  second 
fc     and  third  generations  are  reached. 
III.    The  United  States  still  needs  the  immigrant. 

A.     Great  sections  o'f  country  are  still  undeveloped. 

1.  The  South,  which  is  just  beginning  to  realize  her 

own  resources,  needs  immigration. 

2.  Immigrants  are  needed  in  the  West,  which  is  still 

sparsely  settled,  and  where  new  methods  of 
farming  have  opened  up  great  tracts  of  land 
before  considered  worthless. 


16  BRIEF 

B.  They    are    still    needed    as    laborers    in    construction 

work,  as  well  as  in  mills  and  mines. 

C.  They  are  proving  their  value  as  intensive  farmers  on 

the  abandoned  farms  of  the  East. 

IV.  An  examination  of  the  so-called  evils  of  the  new  immigra- 
tion shows  that  they  are  either  exaggerated  or  non- 
existent. 

A.  The  social  side. 

1.  Americans     or     earlier    immigrants    have    never 

adopted  the  standards  of  an  incoming  people. 
The  newcomers  strive  to  emulate  the  native 
citizens,  so  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  standard 
of  living  is  lowered  by  immigration. 

2.  The  new  immigrants  have  habits  of  economy  and 

frugality  and  the  ability  to  make  a  little  go  a 
long  way  that  keeps  them  free  from  the  aid  of 
charity. 

3.  The  help  given  by  organized  charity  more  often 

takes  the  form  of  advice  than  it  does  of  alms. 

4.  In  their  patronage  of  the  public  schools,  libraries, 

art  galleries  and  concerts  they  may  teach  Ameri- 
cans a  lesson. 

5.  All  the  charges  against  the  new  immigrants  were 

once  made  against  the  old  immigrants,  i.e.  the 
"wild  Irish,"  the  "Dutch,"  etc. 

6.  A  few  aliens  have  become  public  charges  not  be- 

cause they  were  immigrants  but  because  of 
defects  in  our  present  social  and  industrial  sys- 
tem which  affect  both  American  and  foreign 
born  alike. 

B.  The  immigrant  as  an  economic  factor. 

1.  Each   succeeding  wave   of   immigration   has   forced 

the  preceding  wave  forward,  driving  first  the 
native  stock,  then  the  Irish,  the  Germans,  etc., 
higher  in  the  economic  scale. 

2.  The  new  immigration,  which  is  a  less  fixed  and 

stable  force  than  the  old,  tends  to  equalize  labor 

conditions. 

a.  News  now  travels  fast  and  they  come  to 
America  only  in  years  of  promising  condi- 
tions. 


BRIEF  17 

b.    They  return  in  large  numbers  in  years  when 
times  are  bad. 

3.  Once  converted  to  union  principles  they  make  ex- 

cellent union  material  and  are  not  backward  in 
demanding  an  American  wage. 

4.  For  the  money  which  the  immigrant  sends  home 

he  gives  a  full  return  in  labor. 
C.    As  a  political  factor. 

1.  As   material   for  political  corruption  he   is  often 

equalled  by  the  native  born. 

2.  His  so-called  corruption  is  often  due  to  ignorance 

and  could  be  remedied  by  a  more  careful  en- 
forcement of  naturalization  laws  and  by  better 
educational  opportunities  for  adults. 

3.  He  often  comes  to  America  full  of  enthusiasm  for 

democratic  ideals;  it  is  to  our  shame  that  he  is 
sometimes  disappointed. 

4.  From  the  ranks  of  immigrants  have  come  many 

wise  statesmen  and  political  leaders. 

5.  Immigrants  on  the  whole  make  intelligent,  patri- 

otic citizens. 

V.  The  solution  of  the  immigration  problem  requires  a  change 
in  our  attitude  toward  the  immigrant  and  the  adoption 
of  a  system  of  distribution. 

A.  In  our  attitude  toward  the  immigrant  we  have  thought 

too  much  of  the  benefits  he  would  derive  from  the 
mere  privilege  of  living  in  America. 

B.  We  must  consider  the  gifts  and  natural  abilities  he 

brings  with  him  and  make  better  use  of  them. 

C.  We  must  cease  to  blame  him  for  living  in  a  slum  and 

working  under  bad  conditions;  the   slum  and  the 
conditions  are  ours. 

D.  We  must  devise  a  scheme  of  distribution  that  will 

provide  for: 

1.  The  movement  of  this  new  mobile  labor  force  to 

the  parts  of  the  country  that  need  it. 

2.  The  establishment  of  agricultural  colonies  where 
a.    The    new    immigrants    may    find    permanent 

homes. 


i8  BRIEF 

b.    Their  knowledge  of  intensive  methods  of  farm- 
ing  may   become    a    valuable    asset   to   the 
country. 
VI.    The  present  laws  are  adequate. 

A.  They  keep  out  criminals,  paupers,  the  physically  unfit 

and  all  really  undesirable  classes. 

B.  What  is  needed  is  a  more  careful  administration  of 

the  laws  we  now  have. 
VII.     The  Negative  is  opposed  to  the  literacy  test,  because 

A.  It  would  only  restrict  numbers;  it  would  not  select 

quality. 

1.  Literacy  is  not  a  test  of  quality  or  of  intelligence. 

2.  Literacy  is  the  result  of  opportunity. 

3.  The  strong,  willing,  earnest  worker,  tho  illiterate, 

may  be  the  most  desirable  citizen. 

4.  There    is    less    illiteracy    among   the    children    of 

foreign-born    parentage    in    our    country    than 
among  those   of  American  parentage. 

B.  It  would  not  prove  successful  in  operation. 

1.  It  would  be  superficial  and  the  clever  rogue  could 
easily  prepare  himself  to  pass  it. 

2.  It  would  act  in  favor  of  the  city-bred  and  against 

the  immigrant  from  the  country  districts. 

C.  To  make  lack  of  opportunity  a  punishable  offence  is 

contrary  to  American  ideals. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


An  asterisk  (*)  preceding  a  reference  indicates  that  the  entire  article 
or  a  part  of  it  has  been  reprinted  in  this  volume.  Many  of  the  magazine 
articles  and  pamphlets  listed  here,  as  well  as  similar  material  that  may  be 
published  after  this  volume  is  issued,  may  be  secured  at  reasonable  rates 
from  the  Wilson  Package  Library  operated  by  the  H.  W.  Wilson  Company. 


GENERAL  REFERENCES 
Bibliographies,  Briefs  and  Debates 

Chicago.  University.  Literacy  Test  for  Immigrants;  a  debate, 
pa.  *$i.  Delta  Sigma  Rho,  Univ.  of  Chicago.  (For  sale  by 
H.  W.  Wilson  Co.)  1916. 

Edwards,  Richard  H.  Immigration.  (Studies  in  American  So- 
cial Conditions.)  pa.  IDC.  Author,  237  Langdon  St.,  Madison, 
Wis.  1909. 

Independent.  85 : 234.  F.  14,  '16.  Literacy  Test  for  Immigrants ; 
debate.  R.  S.  Fulton. 

Iowa,  University.  Constructive  and  Rebuttal  Speeches  of  the 
Representatives  of  the  State  University  of  Iowa  in  the  Inter- 
collegiate Debates,  1913-1914.  *$i.  Wilson,  H.  W.  1914. 

Question:    Resolved   that   immigration   be   further   restricted  by  a  liter- 
acy test. 

Kansas.  University.  Restriction  of  Immigration,  in  Debating 
and  Public  Discussion,  pp.  36-9.  1910. 

Library  of  Congress.  List  of  Books  with  References  to  Peri- 
odicals on  Immigration,  comp.  by  A.  P.  C.  Griffin.  3d  issue. 
1907. 

Mabie,  E.  C.,  ed.  Restriction  of  Immigration  by  the  Literacy 
Test,  in  University  Debaters'  Annual,  pp.  206-38.  *$i.8o.  Wil- 
son, H.  W.  1916. 

Sold  separately  at  750. 

Montana    High    School    Debating    League.    Educational    Test; 

Bibliog.,    in    Univ.    Extension    Bui.    p.    20-3.     University    of 

Montana,  Missoula.  1914. 
Ray,   Mary  K.     Immigration   Problem;    Bibliog.    pa.  25c.   Wis. 

Free  Lib.  Commission.  1909. 


20  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Ringwalt,  R.  C.     Restriction  of  Immigration,  in  Briefs  on  Public 

Questions,  pp.  31-41.     Longmans,  Green  &  Co.  1913. 
Robbins,  E.  C.     Immigration,  Further  Restriction  of  ;  Brief  and 

bibliog.,  in  High  School  Debate  Book,  pp.  100-8.    A.  C.  Mc- 

Clurg.  1912. 
Shurter,    E.    D.,    and    Taylor,    C.    C.     Immigration;    Brief   and 

bibliog.,   in    Both    Sides    of   TOO    Public   Questions,   pp.    16-7. 

Hinds,  Noble  &  Eldredge.  1913. 
Texas,  University  of.     Educational  Test  for  Immigrants  ;  Bibliog., 

brief,  and  selected  arguments  ;  ed.  by  E.  D.  Shurter  and  C.  I. 

Francis.     (Extension    ser.  no.  58.)    Univ.   of  Texas,   Austin. 

1914. 
Texas,  University  of.     Intercollegiate  Debates.    Report  of  debate 

on    Illiteracy    Test    with    bibliog.     (Extension    ser.    no.    57.) 

Univ.  of  Texas,  Austin.  1914. 
Washington,    University    of.    Immigration;    Brief    and    bibliog. 

Univ.  of  Washington,  Seattle.  1913. 
Wisconsin,    University    of.    Restriction   of    Immigration;    Brief 

and  bibliog.  rev.  ed.    Univ.  of  Wisconsin,  Madison.  1909. 

Books,  Pamphlets,  etc. 

Adams,  T.  S.,  and  Sumner,  H.  L.     Immigration,  in  Labor  Prob- 

lems, pp.  68-99.     Macmillan.  1908. 
American  Jewish  Committee.    Recommendations  Respecting  the 

Revision   of   the   Immigration    Laws   and   Regulations.    Am. 

Jewish  Com.  1910. 
Balch,  Emily  Greene.      Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens.      Charities 

Pub.  Com.  1910. 
Bliss,  W.  P.  D.     New  Encyclopedia  of  Social  Reform,  pp.  597- 

600.     Funk  &  Wagnalls.  1908. 
Boaz,  Franz.     Changes  in  Bodily  Form  of  Descendants  of  Immi- 

grants.    Columbia  Univ.  Press.  1912. 

Reprinted    from    the    U.    S.    Immigration    Commission    Reports. 

Brandenburg,  B.    Imported  Americans.    F.  A.  Stokes  Co.  1904. 
Burgess,  Thomas.    Greeks  in  America.     Sherman,  French  &  Co. 


California.  Commission  of  Immigration  and  Housing,  ist  and 
2d  Annual  Reports.  San  Francisco.  1915,  1916. 

Carlton,  F.  T.  Immigration,  in  History  and  Problems  of  Organ- 
ized Labor,  pp.  322-58.  D.  C.  Heath.  1911. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  21 

Commons,  John  R.     Immigration  and  Its  Economic  Effects,  in 

U.  S.  Industrial  Commission  Reports,    v.  15.  1901. 
Commons,  John  R.     Races  and  Immigrants  in  America.     Mac- 
mil  Ian.  1907. 

Grose,  H.  B.  Aliens  or  Americans.  Eaton  &  Main.  1906. 
Grose,  H.  B.  Incoming  Millions.  F.  H.  Revell  Co.  1906. 
Gulick,  S.  L.  Comprehensive  Immigration  Policy  and  Program. 

pa.    Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America. 

(105  E.  22d  St.,  N.  Y.)    1916. 
Jenks,  J.  W.,  and  Lauck,  W.  J.     Immigration  Problem.    3d  ed. 

Funk  &  Wagnalls.  1913. 
Johnson,  Stanley  C.     History  of  Immigration  from  the  United 

Kingdom  to  North  America.     E.  P.  Button  &  Co.  1914. 
Joseph,    Samuel.     Jewish    Immigration    to    the    United    States. 

Longmans,  Green  &  Co.  1914. 
Kellor,  Frances  A.,  and  Mayper,  Joseph.    Recommendations  for 

a  Federal  Bureau  of  Distribution.     No.  Am.  Civic  League  foi 

Immigrants. 
Marshall,  L.  C.,  and  others,  eds.     Human  Beings  as  Economic 

Factors,  in  Materials  for  the  Study  of  Elementary  Economics, 

PP-  137-56.    Univ.  of  Chicago  Press.  1913. 
Massachusetts.     Commission    on    Immigration.     Report    on    the 

Problem  of  Immigration  in  Massachusetts.     Com.  on  Immi- 
gration, Boston.  1914. 
National  Conference  for  Good  City  Government.    1910:375-84. 

Education  of  Foreigners  in  American  Citizenship.  G.  Abbott. 
National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction.  1913:  42-72. 

Report  of  Special  Immigration  Survey  of  the  Pacific  Coast. 
New  International  Encyclopedia,    v.  12.  pp.  8-19.  new  ed.  Dodd. 

Mead  &  Co.  1915. 
New  Jersey.     Commission  of  Immigration.    Report.  MacCrelish 

&  Quigley,  state  ptrs.  1914. 
*New  York  (State).     Commission  of  Immigration.     Report.  1909. 

Many  of  the  conclusions  of  this  Commission  will  be  found  favorable 
to  the  Negative.  The  Commission  took  a  stand  for  regulation  and  dis- 
tribution rather  than  for  restriction. 

New    York    (State).     Bureau    of    Industries    and    Immigration 

Annual  Reports,  1911- 

Peters,  M.  C.  Jews  in  America.  J.  C.  Winston  Co.  1905. 
Roberts,  Peter.  Immigrant  Races  in  North  America.  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

1910. 


22  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Roberts,    Peter.      Immigrant    Wage-Earners,   in   Wage-Earning. 

Pittsburg,  pp.  33-60.     Survey  Associates.  1914. 
Roberts,   Peter.     New  Immigration.   Macmillan.  1912. 
Steiner,  Edward  A.     Immigrant  Tide,  Its  Ebb  and  Flow.     F.  H. 

Revell  Co.  1909. 
Steiner,  Edward  A.     On  the  Trail  of   the   Immigrant.    4th  ed. 

F.  H.  Revell  Co.  1906. 
United  States.     Bureau  of  Labor.  Bui.  15 : 403-86.  S.  '07.     Italian, 

Slavic  and  Hungarian  Laborers  in  the  United  States.      F.  J. 

Sheridan. 
United  States.     Census  Bureau.     Illiteracy.     [From  I3th  Census 

of  United  States,  1910.]  Census  Bureau.  1914. 
United    States.     Census    Bureau.     Mother    Tongue    of    Foreign 

White   Stock.     [From  I3th   Census   of  United   States,    1910.] 

Census  Bureau.  1914. 
*United  States.    Immigration  Commission.    Abstracts  of  Reports. 

2v.  Govt.  Ptg.  Office.  1911. 

The  Commission  recommended  further  restriction  of  immigration. 
Their  conclusions  will  be  found  favorable  to  the  Affirmative. 

The  complete  report  of  the  Commission  is  printed  in  forty  volumes. 
These  Abstracts  give  a  very  satisfactory  summary,  however. 

Warne,  F.  J.     Immigrant  Invasion.    Dodd.  1913. 

Warne,  F.  J.     Slav  Invasion  and  the  Mine  Workers.     Lippincott. 

1904. 

Warne,  F.  J.    Tide  of  Immigration.    Appleton.    1916. 
(Whelpley,  J.   D.     Problem  of  the  Immigrant.    E.  P.  Button  & 

Co.  1905. 
Woods,   Robert  A.     Americans   in   Process.     Houghton,   Mifflin. 

1902. 

Magazine  Articles 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  48:66-77.  Jl.  '13.  Immigra- 
tion and  the  Minimum  Wage.  Paul  U.  Kellogg. 

American  Economic  Review.  2:  sup.  53-62.  Mr.  '12.  Restriction 
of  Immigration.  Henry  P.  Fairchild. 

Affirmative   and    Negative    Discussion,   pp.    63-78. 

Same.     American   Journal  of    Sociology.    17:    637-46.    Mr.    '12. 

Atlantic  Monthly.  100:401-7.  S.  '07.    Immigrant  Woman.    Frances 

A.  Kellor. 
*Atlantic    Monthly.    102 : 745-59.    D.    '08.     Races    in    the    United 

States.    W.  Z.  Ripley. 

Same   cond.     Review   of   Reviews.     39:   91-2.   Ja.   '09. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  23 

Century.  65  :  683-90.  Mr.  '03.     Coming  Race  in  America.     Gustave 

Michaud. 
Fortnightly.  101:513-20.  Mr.  'i\.    Overtaxed  Melting  Pot.    J.  D. 

Whelpley. 

Same.     Living   Age.    281:    67-72.   Ap.    n.    '14. 

Harper's  Weekly.  59:364-6;  398.  O.  17-24,  '14.  Nation's  New 
Front  Door.  Frances  A.  Kellor. 

Shows  how  Pacific  Coast  states  were  prepared  to  handle  immigrants 
that  were  expected  after  the  opening  of  the  canal.  These  expectations 
may  be  realized  after  the  war. 

Immigrants  in  America  Review. 

A    quarterly    published    in    the    interests    of    immigrants    in    America. 
V.    i,  no.   i   was  issued  in   March,    1915.     Address,   20   W.   34th   St.,   N.   Y. 
City. 
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Immigration.    J.  D.  Whelpley. 
NS— Journal   of   Criminal    Law   and    Criminology.   4 :  523-43.    N.    '13. 

Crime  and  Immigration.    G.  C.  Speranza. 
Journal  of  Political  Economy.    23:280-3.  Mr.  '15.    Latest  Defeat 

of  the  Literacy  Test. 
Journal  of  Political  Economy.  24 : 445-73.  My.  '16.     Relation  of 

the  Literacy   Test  to   a   Constructive   Immigration   Problem. 

Homer  Hoyt. 

Literary  Digest.  46:442-4.  Mr.  i,  '13.     Admission  of  Illiterates. 
Literary  Digest.  50:478-9.  Mr.  6,  '15.     Our  Illiterate  Immigrants. 
Literary  Digest..  52 :  1133-4.  Ap.  22,  '16.     Reading-test  for  Immi- 
grants. 
National  Geographic  Magazine.  26:265-71.  S.  '14.     Foreign  born 

of  the  United  States. 

Statistics   and   tables. 

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gration in  Europe.  J.  D.  Whelpley. 

North  American  Review.  187 :  106-16.  Ja.  '08.  What  America 
Pays  Europe  for  Immigrant  Labor.  Charles  F.  Speare. 

North  American  Review.  188:360-71.  S.  '08.  Common  Sense 
View  of  the  Immigration  Problem.  W.  S.  Rossiter. 

North  American  Review.  200:18-22.  Jl.  '14.'  Our  Illiterates: 
Who  and  Why.  George  Harvey. 

Political  Science  Quarterly.  22:49-60.  Mr.  '07.  Alien  Contract 
Labor  Law.  S.  P.  Orth. 

Popular  Science  Monthly.  85 : 397-403.  O.  '14.  Political  Mind  of 
Foreign  Born.  A.  Lipsky. 


24  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Review  of  Reviews.  33:336-9.  Mr.  '06.  Sane  Methods  of  Regu- 
lating Immigration.  Robert  DeC.  Ward. 

*Science,  n.  s.  39:  147-8.  Ja.  23,  '14.  Results  of  the  First  Census 
of  European  Races  in  the  United  States.  Daniel  Folkmar. 

Sunset.  31:1144-9;  32:593-600;  33:97-105.  D.  '13,  Mr.,  J!..,  '14. 
Immigration.  R.  N.  Lynch. 

A    series    of    articles    showing   how    California    is    profiting   by    the    ex- 
perience   of    the    East. 

Survey.  25:587-95.  Ja.  7,  'n.  Immigrant  Rural  Communities. 
Alexander  E.  Cance. 

Survey.  27:927-8.  O.  7,  'n.  Distribution  of  Agricultural  Immi- 
grants. 

Survey.  31 : 466-8.  Ja.  17,  '14.  Mental  Examination  of  Immi- 
grants. E.  K.  Sprague. 

World's  Work.  32:374-5.  Ag.  '16.  Immigration  Question  Again. 
Gives  a  summary  of  Mr.  ,S.  L.  Gulick's  plan  for  restriction  on  a 

percentage  basis. 


AFFIRMATIVE  REFERENCES 
Books,  Pamphlets,  etc. 

Devine,  Edward  T.     Immigration,  in  Principles  of  Relief,  pp.  162- 
170.     Macmillan.  1904. 

This    chapter    was    first    printed    in    Charities. 

Fairchild,   Henry   P.    Immigration;   a  World  Movement.     Mac- 
millan. 1913. 

Bibliography,     pp.     439-49. 

Hall,  Prescott  F.     Immigration  and  Its  Effects  upon  the  United 
States,    new  ed.  Holt.  1908. 

Bibliographies,    pp.    369-74. 

Haworth,  Paul  L.     Blood  of  the  Nation,  in  America  in  Ferment, 

pp.  67-114.     Bobbs.  1915. 
Hunter,  Robert.     Immigrant,  in  Poverty,  pp.  261-317.     Macmillan. 

1905. 
Jenks,  J.  W.     Character  and  Influence  of  the  Recent  Immigration, 

in  Questions  of  Public  Policy.    Yale  Univ.  Press.  1913. 
Mitchell,  John.    Immigrant  and  the  Living  Wage,  in  Organized 

Labor,   pp.    176-85.    Am.    Bk.   &    Bible    House,    Philadelphia. 

1903. 
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Chapters    from    this    book    appeared    first    in    the    Century.     Some    of 
them   are    listed    with    Magazine    Articles. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  25 

Schultz,  A.  P.    Race  or  Mongrel.     Page.  1908. 
Walker,  Francis  A.     Restriction  of  Immigration,  in  Economics 
and  Statistics,  v.  2,  pp.  417-50.    Holt.  1899. 

Magazine  Articles 

*  American  Economic  Review.  1:753-65.  D.  'n.  Immigration  and 
Crises.  Henry  P.  Fairchild. 

*American  Economic  Review.  3:  sup.  5-19.  Mr.  '13.  Population 
or  Prosperity.  Frank  A.  Fetter. 

American  Journal  of  Sociology.  17:254-67.  S.  'n.  Paradox  of 
Immigration.  Henry  P.  Fairchild. 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  24:  169-84.  Jl.  '04.  Selection 
of  Immigration.  Prescott  F.  Halh 

*Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  34 : 125-9.  Jl.  '09.  Immigra- 
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Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  52 :  169-76.  Mr.  '14.  Alien  in 
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Atlantic  Monthly.  96:611-7.  N.  '05.  Immigration  and  the  South. 
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Atlantic  Monthly.  110:388-93.  S.  '12.  Real  Myth.  W.  Jett 
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*Atlantic  Monthly.  110:691-6.  N.  '12.  Vanishing  American 
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tion. E.  A.  Ross. 

Century.  87 : 225-32.  D.  '13.  American  and  Immigrant  Blood. 
E.  A.  Ross. 

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*Century.  87:615-22.  F.  '14.  Racial  Consequences  of  Immigra- 
tion. E.  A.  Ross. 

These    articles    from    the    Century    are    reprinted    in    Professor    Ross's 
book  "Old   World   in   the   New." 

*Charities.  12 : 129-33.  F.  6,  '04.  Immigration  as  a  Relief  Problem. 
Edward  T.  Devine. 

Reprinted   in    the    author's   book    "Principles    of   Relief." 

*Congressional  Record.  46:4229-31.  Mr.  3,  'n.  [unbound].  Brief 
in  Favor  of  the  Illiteracy  Test.  John  L.  Burnett. 

Congressional  Record.  48:3732-42.  Mr.  18,  '12.  Regulation  of 
Immigration.  F.  M.  Simmons. 

*Congressional  Record.  49 : 666-9.  D.  14,  '12.  Immigration.  Wil- 
liam Kent. 


26  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Congressional  Record.  49:670-4.  D.  14,  '12.     Immigration.     Caleb 

Powers. 
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the  Immigration  Bill.    J.  D.  Price. 
Congressional  Record.  52:3053-9.  F.  4,  '15.     President's  Veto  of 

the  Immigration  Bill.    D.  S.  Church. 
Current  Opinion.  57:340-1.  N.  '14.     Social  Deterioration  of  the 

United  States  from  the  Stream  of  Backward  Immigrants. 
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Stockwell. 
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Dayton. 

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racy.   H.  S.  Williams. 
*  Journal  of  Education.  80:567-70.  D.  10,  '14.    Literacy  and  the 

Immigrant.    W.  D.  Parkinson. 
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of    Immigration    and    Immigration    Restriction.     Prescott    F. 

Hall. 
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Fairchild. 

National  Geographic  Magazine.  23 :  38-41.  Ja.  '12.  Our  Immigra- 
tion Laws  from  the  Viewpoint  of  National  Eugenics.  Robert 

DeC.  Ward. 

Same.     Scientific    American    Supplement.    73:    287-8.    My.    4,    '12. 

North  American  Review.  165 : 393-402.  O.  '97.  Immigration  and 
the  Educational  Test.  Prescott  F.  Hall. 

North  American  Review.  175 :  53-60.  Jl.  '02.  Immigration's  Men- 
ace to  the  National  Health.  T.  V.  Powderly. 

North  American  Review.  179:226-37,  Ag.  '04.  Restriction  of 
Immigration.  Robert  DeC.  Ward. 

North  American  Review.  183:1262-71.  D.  21,  '06.  Medico-Eco- 
nomic Aspect  of  the  Immigration  Problem.  Thomas  Darling- 
ton. 

*North  American  Review.  192:56-67.  Jl.  '10.  National  Eugenics 
in  Relation  to  Immigration.  Robert  DeC.  Ward. 

*North  American  Review.  195 : 94-102.  Ja.  '12.  Future  of  Ameri- 
can Ideals.  Prescott  F.  Hall. 

Reprinted  in  pamphlet  form  by  the  Immigration   Restriction   League. 

North  American  Review.  195:201-11.  F.  '12.  Real  Significance 
of  Recent  Immigration.  W.  Jett  Lauck. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  27 

North  American  Review.  199:383-93.  Mr.  '14.  Our  National 
Fences.  Huntington  Wilson. 

Outlook.  87 : 913-23.  D.  28,  '07.  Keepers  of  the  Gate.  Mary  B. 
Sayles. 

Outlook.  93:65-9.  S.  n,  '09.  Protect  the  Workman.  John 
Mitchell. 

Outlook.  93 : 495-500.  O.  30,  '09.  How  the  United  States  Fosters 
the  Black  Hand.  F.  M.  White. 

Outlook.  96:  1003-6.  D.  31,  '10.     Shall  We  Restrict  Immigration? 

Outlook.  97:  16-8.  Ja.  7,  '11.  Selecting  Our  Immigrants. 

*  Popular  Science  Monthly.  66:166-75.  D.  '04.  Agricultural  Dis- 
tribution of  Immigrants.  Robert  DeC.  Ward. 

Popular  Science  Monthly.  80:383-92.  Ap.  '12.  Medical  Side  of 
Immigration.  A.  C.  Reed. 

*Survey.  25:579-86.  Ja.  7,  'u.  Industrial  Communities.  W.  Jett 
Lauck. 

*Survey.  25:715-6.  F.  4,  'n.  Selection  of  Immigrants.  Edward 
T.  Devine. 

Survey.  30:370-1.  Je.  14,  '13.  Controlling  Immigration  by  Num- 
ber Limitation.  Prescott  F.  Hall. 

*Survey.  29:497-9.  Ja.  18,  '13.  Democracy  and  the  Illiteracy 
Test.  Joseph  Lee. 

Unpopular  Review.  5:153-70.  Ja.  '16.  Case  for  the  Literacy 
Test. 

World  To-Day.  10:418-24.  Ap.  '06.  How  Immigration  Is  Stimu- 
lated. Frederic  A.  Ogg. 

World  To-Day.  11:803-7.  Ag.  '06.  What  an  Immigrant  Inspec- 
tor Found  in  Europe.  Frederic  A.  Ogg. 

World's  Work.  8:5254-9.  S.  '04.  International  Control  of  Immi- 
gration. James  Davenport  Whelpley. 

World's  Work.  14:8879-86.  My.  '07.  American  Immigration  at 
High  Tide.  Frederic  A.  Ogg. 

World's  Work.  22:  14368-74.  My.  'n.  Urgent  Immigration  Prob- 
lem. Jeremiah  W.  Jenks. 

^World's  Work.  26:699-703.  O.  '13.  Our  Expensive  Cheap 
Labor.  Arno  Dosch. 

World's  Work.  32 : 303-5.  Jl.  '16.  American  Illiterate.  Winthrop 
Talbot. 

Yale  Review.  19:79-97.  My.  '10.  Some  Immigration  Differences. 
Henry  P.  Fairchild. 


28  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

NEGATIVE  REFERENCES 
Books,  Pamphlets,  etc. 

Addams,  Jane.  Failure  to  Utilize  Immigrants  in  City  Govern- 
ment, in  Newer  Ideals  of  Peace,  pp.  62-92.  Macmillan.  1907. 

Antin,  Mary.  They  Who  Knock  at  Our  Gates.  Houghton,  Mif- 
flin.  1914. 

Hourwich,  Isaac  A.     Immigration  and  Labor.     Putnam.  1912. 

*Hourwich,  Isaac.  Immigration  :  a  Summary.  Am.  Jewish  Com. 
Reprinted  frpm  "Immigration  and  Labor,"  Putnam. 

Kellor,  Frances  A.  Immigration  and  Unemployment,  in  Out  oi 
Work,  pp.  111-56.  rev.  ed.  Putnam.  1915. 

Kohler,  Max  J.  Immigration  Problem  and  the  Right  of  Asylum 
for  the  Persecuted.  Am.  Jewish  Com. 

Reprinted    from    Jewish    Comment,    Baltimore,    Oct.    24-31,    '13. 
Kohler,   Max  J.     Injustice   of  a  Literacy  Test   for   Immigrants. 

2d  ed.    Am.  Jewish  Com. 

*Low,  A.  Maurice.  Influence  of  Immigration  on  American  De- 
velopment, in  American  People,  v.  2,  pp.  360-429.  Houghton, 

Mifflin.  1911. 
^National   Conference   for   Good   City   Government.     1909:  142-7. 

Effect  of  Immigration  on  Municipal  Politics.     W.  S.  Bennet. 
^National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction.  1912:239-49. 

Is  Immigration  a  Menace?      C.  L.  Sulzberger. 

Reprinted    in    pamphlet    form.     Am.    Jewish.    Com. 

National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction.  1914 : 69-75. 
Family  in  the  Community  but  not  yet  of  the  Community. 
Sophonisba  P.  Breckinridge. 

Sekely,  B.  A.     Immigrant  Labor  and  the  Restriction  of  Immi- 
gration.    National  Liberal  Immigration  League. 

Magazine  Articles 

*American  Economic  Review.  4:93-108.  Mr.  '14.     Some  Aspects 

of  the  Immigration  Problem.     Max  J.  Kohler. 

Reprinted  in   pamphlet   form.   Am.   Jewish   Com. 
American  Journal  of  Sociology.  17:478-90.  Ja.  '12.     Immigration 

and  Crime.     I.  A.  Hourwich. 
American   Journal    of    Sociology.    18:342-51.    N.    '12.     Walker's 

Theory  of  Immigration.    E.  A.  Goldenweiser. 
*American    Journal    of    Sociology.    18:391-7.    N.    '12.     Bird    of 

Passage.     William  B.  Bailey. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  29 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  24:  187-205.  Jl.  '04.  Immigra- 
tion in  Its  Relation  to  Pauperism.  Kate  H.  Claghorn. 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  24 :  223-36.  Jl.  '04.  Proposals 
Affecting  Immigration.  John  J.  D.  Trenor. 

*Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  33 :  373-9.  Mr.  '09.  Influence 
of  Immigration  on  Agricultural  Development.  John  L.  Coul- 
ter. 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  52:159-68.   Mr.   '14.     Justice 
for  the  Immigrant.     Frances  A.  Kellor. 
Reprinted    in   pamphlet   form.    No.    Am.    Civic   League   for   Immigrants. 

*Arena.  32:  596-602.  D.  '04.  Immigration  Bugbear.  Ernest 
Crosby. 

*  Atlantic  Monthly.  86 :  535-48.  O.  'oo.  Our  Immigrants  and  Our- 
selves. Kate  H.  Claghorn. 

*Century.  73 : 633-8.  F.  '07.  Human  Side  of  Immigration.  John 
Graham  Brooks. 

*Century.  74 : 474-80.  Jl.  '07.  American  of  the  Future.  Brander 
Matthews. 

Congressional  Record.  49 :  684-7.  D.  14,  '12.  Immigration.  Rich- 
ard Bartholdt. 

Congressional  Record.  49:689-90.  D.  14,  '12.  Immigration. 
Thomas  Gallagher. 

Congressional  Record.  52:3022-6.  F.  4,  '15.  Report  of  a  Hearing 
before  President  Wilson. 

*Congressional  Record.  52:  3064.  F.  4,  '15.     Three  Veto  Messages. 
Presidents  Cleveland,  Taft  and  Wilson. 
President   Cleveland's   Message  is  issued  in  pamphlet  form  by  the  Am. 

Jewish    Com.     President    Wilson's    message    may    be    found    in    the    daily 

papers   of   Feb.   4,    1915. 

Congressional  Record.  52:3061-4.  F.  4,  '15.  President's  Veto  of 
the  Immigration  Bill.  A.  J.  Sabath. 

Congressional  Record.  52 : 3073-6.  F.  4,  '15.  President's  Veto  of 
the  Immigration  Bill.  J.  H.  Moore. 

Educational  Review.  29 : 245-63.  Mr.  '05.  Recent  Immigration. 
Jane  Addams. 

Educational  Review.  48:21-36.  Je.  '14.  Education  of  the  Immi- 
grant. Frances  A.  Kellor. 

Reprinted    in   pamphlet    form.    Am.    Jewish    Com. 

Forum.  53:  380-5.  Mr.  '15.    Literacy  Test.    James  A.  O'Gorman. 
"Independent.   72 : 304-7.    F.   8,   '12.      Popular    Delusions    About 
Immigration.    W.  F.  Willcox. 


30  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Independent.  78:417.  Je.  I,  '14.  Foreign-born,  Crime  and  Patriot- 
ism. 

Journal  of  Political  Economy.  21 : 954-6.  D.  '13.  Immigration  and 
Insanity.  H.  L.  Reed. 

Answer   to    an    article   by   P.    F.   Hall   in   October  number. 

*Nation.  82:398-9.  My.  17,  '06.     Immigration  and  the  South. 

Nation.  95 : 425-6.  N.  7,  '12.    Metaphysical  Standards  of  Living. 

New  Republic.  2:8-9.  F.  6,  '15.     Testing  a  Race  by  Its  Literacy. 

New  Republic.  6:254-5.  Ap.  8,  '16.     Control  of  Immigration. 

*New  York  Times.  Ja.  10,  '12.     Illiteracy  and  Its  Significance. 

North  American  Review.  178:  558-70.  Ap.  '04.  Is  the  New  Immi- 
gration Dangerous  to  the  Country?  O.  P.  Austin. 

*North  American  Review.  195 :  513-25.  Ap.  '12.  American  Ideals 
and  Race  Mixture.  Percy  S.  Grant. 

*North  American  Review.  193:561-73.  Ap.  'n.  Needed— a  Do- 
mestic Immigration  Policy.  Frances  A.  Kellor. 

Reprinted   in    pamphlet   form.     No.   Am.   Civic   League   for  Immigrants. 

*North  American  Review.  199:866-78.  Je.  '14.  Crux  of  the  Im- 
migration Question.  A.  P.  Andrew. 

*North  American  Review.  201 : 347-50.  Mr.  '15.  Bogy  of  Alien 
Illiteracy.  George  Harvey. 

Outlook.  106:912-7.  Ap.  25,  '14.  Who  Is  Responsible  for  the 
Immigrant?  Frances  A.  Kellor. 

Reprinted   in   pamphlet   form.    No.    Am.    Civic   League   for   Immigrants. 

Outlook.  106:380-1.  F.  21,  '14.     Literacy  Test  for  Immigrants. 
Outlook.  107:334-5.  Je.  13,  '14.     Old  Stock  and  the  New. 
Political  Science  Quarterly.  19 :  32-49.  Mr.  '04.     Some  Aspects  of 

the  Immigration  Problem.    R.  P.  Falkner. 
Political  Science  Quarterly.  20:276-97.  Je.  '05.     Immigration  to 

the  Southern  States.    Walter  L.  Fleming. 
Political  Science  Quarterly.  26:615-52.  D.  'n.    Economic  Aspects 

of  Immigration.     I.  A.  Hourwich. 

Reprinted     in     pamphlet     form     by    Ginn     &     Co.     Supplied     by     Am. 

Jewish    Com. 

Popular  Science  Monthly.  66 : 243-55.  Ja.  '05.  Social  and  Po- 
litical Effects  of  Immigration.  Allan  McLaughlin. 

Review  of  Reviews.  35:319-28.  Mr.  '07.  Why  We  Need  the 
Immigrant.  W.  S.  Rossiter. 

Review  of  Reviews.  44:697-704.  D.  '11.  Ebb  and  Flow  of  the 
Immigration  Tide.  H.  F.  Sherwood. 

*Review  of  Reviews.  49 :  342-5.  Mr.  '14.  Our  Recent  Immigrants 
as  Farmers.  Lajos  Steiner. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  31 

Survey.  23:465-72.  Ja.   I,  '10.      Handicaps  in  America.      G.  C. 

Speranza. 
*Survey.    25:527-9.    Ja.    7,    'u.       Adjustment — not    Restriction. 

Grace  Abbott. 
Survey.  25:596-602.  Ja.  7,   'n.      Immigrants  in   Cities.      E.   A. 

Goldenweiser. 

*Survey.  29:419-20.  J'a.  4,  '13.     Pen  and  Book  as  Tests  of  Char- 
acter.   Jane  Addams. 
Survey.  30:369-70-   Je.   14,   '13.     New   Expedient  for  Restricting 

Immigration.  M.  J.  Kohler. 
Survey.   31 : 766-7.    Mr.   21,    '14.      Tie    that   Binds   Immigration, 

Work  and  Citizenship.     Frances  A.  Kellor. 
World    To-day.    11:735-8.    Jl.    '06.      Americans   of   the    Future. 

Daniel  T.  Pierce. 
World's  Work.  14 :  8959-60.  Je.  '07.     Immigration  to  the  South. 

EUROPEAN  WAR  AND  IMMIGRATION 

Independent.  86:207-8.  My.  8,  '16.     Coming  Flood  of  Immigra- 
tion.    Isaac  D.  Levine. 
Independent.   87 : 297-8.    Ag.   28,    '16.      Wage-earner's     Innings. 

Frederic  C.  Howe. 
Literary  Digest.  53 : 46.  Jl.  I,  '16.     More  Immigrants  Coming  in 

Spite  of  the  War. 
""Immigrants   in   America   Review,   i :  9-10.    Mr.    '15.      Domestic 

Policy.    Frances  A.  Kellor. 
*New   Republic,    i :  10-1.   D.  26,    '14.    Wanted — An   Immigration 

Policy. 
North  American  Review.  201 : 667-70.  My.  '15.    Effects  of  the 

War  on  Immigration.     George  Harvey. 

*Outlook.  113:1023-4.  Ag.  30,  '16.     Immigration  of  the  Year. 
Overland  Monthly,  n.  s.  68:  138-40.  Ag.  '16.    Great  War's  Effect 

on  Immigration.    F.  B.  Lenz. 
Review  of  Reviews.  52 :  598-602.  N.  '15.     Immigration,  Industry, 

and  the  War.    Frederic  C.  Howe. 
^Scientific   Monthly.  2 : 438-52.   My.   '16.     Immigration   and   the 

War.    R.  DeC.  Ward. 

Same  cond.     Review  of  Reviews.  53:  735-6.  Je.  '16. 
*Scribner's  Magazine.  58:635-9.  N.  '15.    Immigration  After  the 

War.    Frederic  C.  Howe. 

Same  cond.     Current  Opinion.   59:  420-1.   D.  '15. 


32  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

*Snrvey.  34:153-4.  My.  15,   '15.     Immigration  That  May   Conre 

from  Russia  after  the  War.     Leo  Pasvolsky. 
Survey.    35:524-5.    Ja.    29,    '16.     Immigration's    Ebbing    Tide. 

Kate  H.  Claghorn. 


AMERICANIZATION 
Books,  Pamphlets,  etc. 

Dixon,  Royal.     Americanization.    *5oc.    Macmillan.    1916. 

Kellor,  Frances  A.  American-made  Citizens,  in  Straight  Amer- 
ica. *5oc.  Macmillan.  1916. 

Miller,  Herbert  A.  School  and  the  Immigrant.  25c.  Cleveland 
Foundation ;  Survey  Committee,  Russell  Sage  Foundation. 
1916. 

United    States.      Bureau    of    Education    Bulletin,    1916.    18:1-51.^ 
Public  Facilities  for  Educating  the  Alien.     F.  E.  Farrington. 

Magazine  Articles 

American  City.   14:164-6.  F.  '16.     How  to  Americanize  a  City. 

Frances  A.  Kellor. 
Annals   of  the   American  Academy.   67:273-83.    S.   '16.     United 

States   Bureau   of   Education    and    the    Immigrant.     H.    H. 

Wheaton. 
Atlantic  Monthly.   117:59-65.  Ja.  '16.     Lo,  the  Poor  Immigrant! 

Frances  A.  Kellor. 

Same  cond.      Review  of   Reviews.   53:  241.   F.   '16. 
Atlantic   Monthly.    118:86-97.   Jl.    '16.     Trans-national   America. 

Randolph  S.  Bourne. 
Century.  91 : 350-63.  Ja.  '16.    Hopes  of  the  Hyphenated.     George 

Creel. 
Education.    36:357-61.    F.    '16.     Evening    Elementary    Schools. 

William  H.  Dooley. 

Educational  Review.  51 : 469-77.  My.  '16.     Education  of  the  Im- 
migrant.   F.  B.  Lenz. 
Immigrants  in  America  Review,  20  W.  34th  St.,  New  York  City. 

The  numbers   of  this  quarterly   are   devoted  wholly   to   the  interests   of 
the  immigrant. 

Outlook.  112:439-48.  F.  23,  '16.  Americanization  Factory. 
Gregory  Mason. 

An  account  of  what  the  public  schools  of  Rochester  are  doing  to  make 
Americans  of  foreigners. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  33 

Outlook.    114:193-201.    S.    27,    '16.     Americans    First.      Gregory 

Mason. 

How  the  people  of  Detroit  are  making  Americans  of  the  foreigners  in 
their  city. 

Review  of  Reviews.  53 :  79-80.  Ja.  '16.     Educating  the  Immigrant 

for  Citizenship. 
Review  of  Reviews.  53:81-2.  Ja.  '16.     Los  Angeles'  Example; 

Education  of  the  Immigrant.     Chester  Ferris. 
School  and  Society.  3 :  613-17.  Ap.  29,  '16.    Public  School  and  the 

New  American  Spirit.    J.  G.  Becht. 
School  and  Society.  3 :  570-2.  Ap.  15,  '16.    How  to  Increase  Night 

School   Attendance   Among  the   Foreign   Born.     Frances  A. 

Kellor. 
Survey.  36:478-80.  Ag.  5,  '16.     Democracy  of  Internationalism. 

Grace  Abbott. 

Contributions  which  race  groups  in  America  can  make  to  internation- 
alism. 

World's  Work.   32:30-3.   My.   '16.     Your    Government    of    the 
United  States;  Making  New  Americans. 

Work  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Naturalization. 

For  material  on  this  subject  contained  in  this  volume  see  Our  Recent 
Immigrants  as  Farmers,  by  Lajos  Steiner,  p.  204;  Needed — A  Domestic 
Immigration  Policy,  by  Frances  A.  Kellor,  p.  209;  and  Adjustment — Not 
Restriction,  by  Grace  Abbott,  p.  216. 

The  following  societies  issue  reports,  pamphlets,  etc. 
American   Jewish   Committee,    356   2d   Av.,    N.    Y.   City. 
Asiatic  Exclusion  League,  316   i4th  St.,  San  Francisco. 
Committee    for    Immigrants   in    America    (Merged   with    National   Amer- 
icanization  Comm.). 

Immigration  Restriction  League,    n   Pemberton  Sq.,  Boston,  Mass. 
National  Americanization  Committee,   20  W.  34th  St.,  N.  Y.  City. 
National    Liberal    Immigration    League,    150    Nassau    St.,    N.    Y.    City. 
North   American    Civic   League   for   Immigrants    (merged   with    National 
Americanization  Comm.). 


Incoming  and  Outgoing  Aliens,  1890-1915 


r-IC^I       COT^lrtCOt^OOOSOT-HC^fO^LOCOb- 
OS       OS      OS       OS      OS      OS      03       OS      OS      OS       OOOOOOOO 

OS      OS      OS      OS      OS      OS      OS 


OO       OOCX)       COOOOOOOOOOOOO       OS 


osososoi 


1,200,000 

1,250,000 

1,200,000 

1,150,000 

1,100,000 

1,050,000 

1,000,000 

950,000 

900,000 

850,000 

800,000 

750,000 

700,000 

650,000 

600,000 

550,000 

500,000 

450,000 

400,000 

350,000 

300,000 

250,000 

200,000 

150,000 

100,000 


Immigration 
Emigration 


— Chart  prepared  by  John  B.  7.   Gerety  from  Government  Statistics 


Official  reports  of  outgoing  aliens  have  been  kept  only  since 
1907. 

The  dates  given  signify  in  each  case  the  year  ending  in  June. 

Statistics  for  1915  were  available  to  the  end  of  May  only. 
The  average  monthly  immigration  for  the  year  up  to  that  date 
was  27,645.  If  that  number  be  added  to  the  eleven  months'  total, 
the  approximate  number  for  the  year  will  be  obtained. 


GENERAL  DISCUSSION 


United   States.     Immigration   Commission. 
Abstracts  of  Reports 

Conclusions  and  Recommendations 

Sources  of  Immigration  and  Character  of  Immigrants 

From  1820  to  June  30,  1910,  27,918,992  immigrants  were  ad- 
mitted to  the  United  States.  Of  this  number  92.3  per  cent  came 
from  European  countries,  which  countries  are  the  source  of 
about  93.7  per  cent  of  the  present  immigration  movement.  From 
1820  to  1883  more  than  95  per  cent  of  the  total  immigrants  from 
Europe  originated  in  the  United  Kingdom,  Germany,  Scandi- 
navia, the  Netherlands,  Belgium,  France,  and  Switzerland.  In 
what  follows  the  movement  from  these  countries  will  be  referred 
to  as  the  "old  immigration."  Following  1883  there  was  a  rapid 
change  in  the  ethnical  character  of  European  immigration,  and 
in  recent  years  more  than  70  per  cent  of  the  movement  has 
originated  in  southern  and  eastern  Europe.  The  change  geo- 
graphically, however,  has  been  somewhat  greater  than  the  change 
in  the  racial  character  of  the  immigration,  this  being  due  very 
largely  to  the  number  of  Germans  who  have  come  from  Austria- 
Hungary  and  Russia.  The  movement  from  southern  and  eastern 
Europe  will  be  referred  to  as  the  "new  immigration."  In  a 
single  generation  Austria-Hungary,  Italy,  and  Russia  have  suc- 
ceeded the  United  Kingdom  and  Germany  as  the  chief  sources 
of  immigration.  In  fact,  each  of  the  three  countries  first  named 
furnished  more  immigrants  to  the  United  States  in  1907  than 
came  in  the  same  year  from  the  United  Kingdom,  Germany, 
Scandinavia,  France,  the  Netherlands,  Belgium,  and  Switzerland 
combined. 

The  old  immigration  movement  was  essentially  one  of  per- 
manent settlers.  The  new  immigration  is  very  largely  one  of 
individuals  a  considerable  proportion  of  whom  apparently  have 
no  intention  of  permanently  changing  their  residence,  their  only 
purpose  in  coming  to  America  being  to  temporarily  take  advant- 


36  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

age  of  the  greater  wages  paid  for  industrial  labor  in  this  country. 
This,  of  course,  is  not  true  of  all  the  new  immigrants,  but  the 
practice  is  sufficiently  common  to  warrant  referring  to  it  as  a 
characteristic  of  them  as  a  class.  From  all  data  that  are  avail- 
able it  appears  that  nearly  40  per  cent  of  the  new  immigration 
movement  returns  to  Europe  and  that  about  two-thirds  of  those 
who  go  remain  there.  This  does  not  mean  that  all  of  these 
immigrants  have  acquired  a  competence  and  returned  to  live  on 
it.  Among  the  immigrants  who  return  permanently  are  those 
who  have  failed,  as  well  as  those  who  have  succeeded.  Thou- 
sands of  those  returning  have,  under  unusual  conditions  of 
climate,  work,  and  food,  contracted  tuberculosis  and  other 
diseases;  others  are  injured  in  our  industries;  still  others  are 
the  widows  and  children  of  aliens  dying  here.  These,  with  the 
aged  and  temperamentally  unfit,  make  up  a  large  part  of  the 
aliens  who  return  to  their  former  homes  to  remain. 
/"The  old  immigration  came  to  the  United  States  during  a 
period  of  general  development  and  was  an  important  factor  in 
that  development,  while  the  new  immigration  has  come  during  a 
period  of  great  industrial  expansion  and  has  furnished  a  prac- 
tically unlimited  supply  of  labor  to  that  expansion.  r 

As  a  class  the  new  immigrants  are  largely  unskitTed  laborers 
coming  from  countries  where  their  highest  wage  is  small  com- 
pared with  the  lowest  wage  in  the  United  States.  Nearly  75  per- 
cent of  them  are  males.  About  83  per  cent  are  between  the 
ages  of  14  and  45  years,  and  consequently  are  producers  rather 
than  dependents.  They  bring  little  money  into  the  country  and 
send  or  take  a  considerable  part  of  their  earnings  out.  More 
than  35  per  cent  are  illiterate,  as  compared  with  less  than  3  per 
cent  of  the  old  immigration  rlass.K Immigration  prior  to  1882 
was  practically  unregulated,  and  consequently  many  were  not 
self-supporting,  so  that  the  care  of  alien  paupers  in  several 
states  was  a  serious  problem.  The  new  immigration  has  for  the 
most  part  been  carefully  regulated  so  far  as  health  and  likelihood 
of  pauperism  are  concerned,  and,  although  drawn  from  classes 
low  in  the  economic  scale,  the  new  immigrants  as  a  rule  are  the 
strongest,  the  most  enterprising,  and  the  best  of  their  class. 

Causes  of  the  Movement 

While  social  conditions  affect  the  situation  in  some  countries, 
the  present  immigration  from  Europe  to  the  United  States  is  in 


ON    IMMIGRATION  37 

the  largest  measure  due_to_ecojiomic-caiise^-I  It  should  be  stated, 
however,  that  emigration  from  Europe  is  not  now  an  absolute 
economic  necessity,  and  as  a  rule  those  who  emigrate  to  the 
United  States  are  impelled  by  a  desire  for  betterment  rather 
than  by  the  necessity  of  escaping  intolerable  conditions.  This  fact 
should  largely  modify  the  natural  incentive  to  treat  the  immigra- 
tion movement  from  the  standpoint  of  sentiment  and  permit  its 
consideration  primarily  as  an  economic  problem.  In  other  words, 
the  economic  and  social  welfare  of  the  United  States  should 
now  ordinarily  be  the  determining  factor  in  the  immigration 
pojicy  of  the  Government. - 

[^Comparatively  few  immigrants  come  without  some  reason- 
ably definite  assurance  that  employment  awaits  them,  and  it  is 
probable  that  as  a  rule  they  know  the  nature  of  that  employment 
and  the  rate  of  wages.  A  large  number  of  immigrants  are 
induced  to  come  by  quasi  labor  agents  in  this  country,  who 
combine  the  business  of  supplying  laborers  to  large  employers 
and  contractors  with  the  so-called  immigrant  banking  business 
and  the  selling  of  steamship  ticketsTj 

Another  important  agency  in  promoting  emigration  from 
Europe  to  the  United  States  is  the  many  thousands  of  steamship- 
ticket  agents  and  subageiits  operating  in  the  emigrant-furnishing 
districts  of  southern  and  eastern  Europe.  Under  the  terms  of 
the  United  States  immigration  law,  as  well  as  the  laws  of  most 
European  countries,  the  promotion  of  emigration  is  forbidden, 
but  nevertheless  the  steamship-agent  propaganda  flourishes 
everywhere.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  steamship  lines  as  a 
rule  openly  direct  the  operations  of  these  agents,  but  the  exist- 
ence of  the  propaganda  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  in  the 
emigrant-furnishing  countries  and,  it  is  fair  to  assume,  is 
acquiesced  in,  if  not  stimulated,  by  the  steamship  lines  as  well. 
With  the  steamship  lines  the  transportation  of  steerage  passengers 
is  purely  a  commercial  matter;  moreover,  the  steerage  business 
which  originates  in  southern  and  eastern  Europe  is  peculiarly 
attractive  to  the  companies,  as  many  of  the  immigrants  travel 
back  and  forth,  thus  insuring  east-bound  as  well  as  west-bound 
traffic. 

I  in  migrants  in  Manufacturing  and  Mining 

A  large  proportion  of  the  southern  and  eastern  European 
immigrants  of  the  past  twenty-five  years  have  entered  the  manu- 


38  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

» 

factoring  and  mining  industries  of  the  eastern  and  middle  western 
I  states,  mostly  in  the  capacity  of  unskilled  laborers.    There  is  no 
I  basic  industry  in  which  they  are  not  largely  represented,  and  in 
I  many  cases  they  compose  more  than  50  per  cent  of  the   total 
;   number  of  persons  employed  in  such  industries.    Coincident  with 
the  advent  of  these  millions  of  unskilled  laborers,  there  has  been 
an  unprecedented  expansion  of  the  industries  in  which  they  have 
been  employed.     Whether  this  great  immigration  movement  was 
caused  by  the  industrial  development  or  whether  the  fact  that  a 
practically  unlimited  and  available  supply  of  cheap  labor  existed 
in  Europe  was  taken  advantage  of  for  the  purpose  of  expanding 
/      the  industries,  can  not  well  be  demonstrated.  v  Whatever  may  be 
the  truth  in  this  regard,  it  is  certain  that  southern  and  eastern 
European     immigrants     have     almost     completely     monopolized 
unskilled  labor  activities  in  many  of  the  more  important  indus- 
tries.    This  phase  of  the  industrial  situation  was  made  the  most 
important  and  exhaustive  feature  of  the  Commission's  investiga- 
tion, and  the  results  show  that  while  the  competition  of  these 
immigrants   has   had.  little,   if  any,    effect  on   the   highly   skilled 
trades,  nevertheless,  through  lack  of  industrial  progress  and  by 
reason  of  large  and  constant  reinforcement  from  abroad,  it  has 
kept  conditions  in  the  semiskilled  and  unskilled  occupations  from 
advancing. 

Like  most  of  the  immigration  from  southern  and  eastern 
Europe,  those  who  entered  the  leading  industries  were  largely 
single  men  or  married  men  unaccompanied  by  their  families. 
There  is,  of  course,  in  practically,  all  industrial  communities  a 
large  number  of  families  of  the  various  races,  but  the  majority 
of  the  employees  are  men  without  families  here  and  whose  stand- 
ard of  living  is  so  far  below  that  of  the  native  American  or 
older  immigrant  workman  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  latter  to 
successfully  compete  with  them.  They  usually  live  in  cooperative 
groups  and  crowd  together.  Consequently,  they  are  able  to  save 
a  great  part  of  their  earnings,  much  of  which  is  sent  or  carried 
abroad.  Moreover,  there  is  a  strong  tendency  on  the  part  of 
these  unaccompanied  men  to  return  to  their  native  countries 
after  a  few  years  of  labor  here.  These  groups  have  little  contact 
with  American  life,  learn  little  of  American  institutions,-  and 
aside  from  the  wages  earned  profit  little  by  their  stay  in  this 
country.  During  their  early  years  in  the  United  States  they 
usually  rely  for  assistance  and  advice  on  some  member  of  their 


ON   IMMIGRATION  39 

race,  frequently  a  saloon  keeper  or  grocer,  and  almost  always 
a  steamship  ticket  agent  and  "immigrant  banker,"  who,  because 
of  superior  intelligence  and  better  knowledge  of  American  ways, 
commands  their  confidence.  Usually  after  a  longer  residence 
they  become  more  self-reliant,  but  their  progress  toward  assimi- 
lation is  generally  slow.  Immigrant  families  in  the  industrial 
centers  are  more  permanent  and  usually  exhibit  a  stronger  tend- 
ency toward  advancement,  although,  in  most  cases,  it  is  a  long 
time  before  they  even  approach  the  ordinary  standard  of  the 
American  or  the  older  immigrant  families  in  the  same  grade  of 
occupation.  This  description,  of  course,  is  not  universally  true, 
but  it  fairly  represents  a  great  part  of  the  recent  immigrant 
population  in  the  United  States.  Their  numbers  are  so  great 
and  the  influx  is  so  continuous  that  even  with  the  remarkable 
expansion  of  industry  during  the  past  few  years  there  has  been 
created  an  over  supply  of  unskilled  labor,  and  in  some  of  the 
industries  this  is  reflected  in  a  curtailed  number  of  working  days 
and  a  consequent  yearly  income  among  the  unskilled  workers 
which  is  very  much  less  than  is  indicated  by  the  daily  wage 
rates  paid ;  and  while  it  may  not  have  lowered  in  a  marked 
degree  the  American  standard  of  living,  it  has  introduced  a  lower 
standard  which  has  become  prevalent  in  the  unskilled  industry  at 
large. 

Recent  Immigrants  in  Agriculture 

According  to  the  census  of  1900,  21.7  per  cent  of  all  foreign- 
born  male  breadwinners  in  the  United  States  were  engaged  in 
agricultural  pursuits,  but  the  great  majority  of  these  were  of  the 
old  immigration  races.  Up  to  that  time  comparatively  few  of 
the  immigrants  from  the  south  and  east  of  Europe  had  gone  on 
the  land,  and,  while  during  the  past  ten  years  some  of  the  races 
have  shown  a  tendency  in  that  direction,  the  proportion  is  still 
small.  Among  the  races  of  recent  immigration  which  have 
shown  a  more  or  less  pronounced  tendency  toward  agriculture  in 
states  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains  are  the  Italians  and  Poles, 
while  several  Hebrew  agricultural  colonies  have  been  established. 
A  considerable  number  of  the  Italians  are  to  be  found  in  various 
parts  of  the  East,  the  South,  and  the  Southwest,  where,  as  a 
rule,  they  have  established  communities,  and  on  the  whole  have 
made  good  progress.  In  the  East  many  have  engaged  in  truck 
gardening  in  the  vicinity  of  the  largest  cities,  while  in  the  South 


40  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

and  Southwest  they  have  entered  fruit  and  berry  raising  and,  to 
a  lesser  degree,  general  farming.  The  Poles  have  gone  into 
general  agriculture  in  many  parts  of  the  East  and  Middle  West, 
while  the  H'ebrews  are,  as  a  rule,  located  in  the  more  populous 
states  and  usually  near  large  cities.  The  small  number  of 
Hebrews  who  have  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  have  not 
been  conspicuously  successful,  although  in  some  localities  they 
have  made  fair  progress.  The  Polish  farmers,  as  a  rule,  have 
succeeded,  particularly  in  some  of  the  eastern  localities  where 
they  have  purchased  worn-out  lands  and  succeeded  in  making 
them  productive  and  profitable.  The  Italians  usually  have  been 
successful  in  general  farming  and  especially  so  in  truck  garden- 
ing and  small  farming  in  the  vicinity  of  large  cities. 

While  encouragement  is  to  be  found  in  the  experiences  of  the 
past  few  years,  it  is  clear  that  the  tendency  of  the  new  immigra- 
tion is  toward  industrial  and  city  pursuits  rather  than  toward 
agriculture. 

Artificial  Distribution  of  Immigrants 

In  making  the  larger  cities  and  industrial  communities  their 
place  of  residence,  aliens  composing  the  new  immigration  move- 
ment have  continued  to  follow  a  tendency  which  originated  with 
the  advent  of  such  immigrants  in  considerable  numbers.  This 
may  be  ascribed  to  various  reasons.  A  large  part  of  the  immi- 
grants were  agricultural  laborers  at  home,  and  their  immigration 
is  due  to  a  desire  to  escape  the  low  economic  conditions  which 
attend  agricultural  pursuits  in  countries  from  which  they  come. 
With  no  knowledge  of  other  conditions  it  is  natural,  therefore, 
that  they  should  seek  another  line  of  activity  in  this  country. 
The  destination  of  these  immigrants  in  the  United  States  on 
arrival  is  controlled  by  the  fact  that  they  almost  invariably  join 
relatives  or  friends,  and  few  of  these,  even  among  earlier  immi- 
grants of  the  class,  are  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits. 

No  satisfactory  or  permanent  distribution  of  immigrants  can 
be  effected  through  any  federal  employment  system,  no  matter 
how  widespread,  because  the  individual  will  seek  such  social  and 
economic  conditions  as  best  suit  him.,  no  matter  where  sent. 
What  is  needed  is  a  division  of  information  which  will  cooperate 
with  states  desiring  immigrant  settlers.  Information  concerning 
the  opportunities  for  settlement  should  then  be  brought  to  the 
attention  of  immigrants  in  industrial  centers  who  have  been 


ON   IMMIGRATION  41 

here  for  some  time  and  who  might  thus  be  induced  to  invest 
their  savings  in  this  country  and  become  permanent  agricultural 
settlers.  Such  a  division  might  also  secure  and  furnish  to  all 
laborers  alike  information  showing  opportunities  for  permanent 
employment  in  various  sections  of  the  country,  together  with  the 
economic  conditions  in  such  places. 


As  a  result  of  the  investigation  the  commission  is  unanimously 
of  the  opinion  that  in  framing  legislation  emphasis  should  be  laid 
upon  the  following  principles: 

1.  While  the  American   people,   as   in   the  past,   welcome   the 
oppressed  of  other  lands,  care  should  be  taken  that  immigration 
be  such  both  in  quality  and  quantity  as  not  to  make  too  difficult 
the  process  of  assimilation. 

2.  Since  the  existing  law  and  further  special  legislation  recom- 
mended in  this  report  deal  with  the  physically  and  morally  unfit, 
further   general   legislation    concerning   the   admission    of    aliens 
should  be  based  primarily  upon  economic  or  business  considera- 
tions  touching   the   prosperity   and    economic    well-being   of   our 
people. 

3.  The   measure    of   the    rational,    healthy    development    of    a 
country  is  not  the  extent  of  its  investment  of  capital,  its  output 
of  products,  or  its  exports  and  imports,  unless  there  is  a  corre- 
sponding economic  opportunity   afforded  to  the   citizen   depend- 
ent   upon    employment    for    his    material,    mental,    and    moral 
development. 

4.  The   development   of  business   may    be   brought   about   by 
means  which  lower  the  standard  of  living  of  the  wage-earners. 
A   slow  expansion  of  industry  which  would  permit  the  adapta- 
tion and  assimilation  of  the  incoming  labor  supply  is  preferable 
to  a  very  rapid  industrial  expansion  which  results  in  the  immigra- 
tion of  laborers  of  low  standards  and  efficiency,  who  imperil  the 
American  standard  of  wages  and  conditions  of  employment. 

The  commission  agrees  that: 

i.  To  protect  the  United  States  more  effectively  against  the 
immigration  of  criminal  and  certain  other  debarred  classes — 

(a)  Aliens  convicted  of  serious  crimes  within  a  period  of  five 
years  after  admission  should  be  deported  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  House  bill  20,980,  Sixty-first  Congress,  second 


42  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

(b)  Under  the  provisions  of    section  39  of  the  immigration 
act  of  February  20,   1907,  the  President  should  appoint  commis- 
sioners   to    make    arrangements    with    such    countries    as    have 
adequate  police  records  to  supply  emigrants  with  copies  of  such 
records,    and    that    thereafter   immigrants    from    such    countries 
should  be  admitted  to  the  United  States  only  upon  the  production 
of. proper    certificates   showing   an    absence    of   convictions    for 
excludable  crimes. 

(c)  So  far  as  practicable  the  immigration  laws  should  be  so 
amended  as  to  be  made  applicable  to  alien  seamen. 

(d)  Any  alien  who  becomes  a  public  charge  within  three  years 
after  his  arrival  in  this  country  should  be  subject  to  deportation 
in  the  discretion  of  the  secretary  of  commerce  and  labor. 

2.  Sufficient  appropriation  should  be  regularly  made  to  enforce 
vigorously  the  provisions   of  the   laws  previously   recommended 
by  the  commission  and  enacted  by  Congress  regarding  the  impor- 
tation of  women  for  immoral  purposes. 

3.  As  the   new    statute   relative   to   steerage   conditions   took 
effect  so  recently  as  January   i,  1909,  and  as  the  most  modern 
steerage  fully  complies  with  all  that  is  demanded  under  the  law, 
the  commission's  only  recommendation  in  this  connection  is  that 
a  statute   be  immediately  enacted  providing  for  the  placing  of 
government  officials,  both  men  and  women,  on  vessels  carrying 
third-class  or  steerage  passengers  for  the  enforcement  of  the  law 
and  the  protection  of  the  immigrant.     The  system   inaugurated 
by  the  commission  of  sending  investigators  in  the  steerage  in  the 
guise   of    immigrants    should  be   continued   at  intervals   by   the 
bureau  of  immigration. 

4.  To  strengthen  the  certainty  of  just  and  humane  decisions 
of  doubtful  cases  at  ports  of  entry  it  is  recommended — 

That  section  25  of  the  immigration  act  of  1907  be  amended  to 
provide  that  boards  of  special  inquiry  should  be  appointed  by  the 
secretary  of  commerce  and  labor,  and  that  they  should  be  com- 
posed of  men  whose  ability  and  training  qualify  them  for  the 
performance  of  judicial  functions;  that  the  provisions  compelling 
their  hearings  to  be  separate  and  apart  from  the  public  should 
be  repeated,  and  that  the  office  of  an  additional  assistant  secre- 
tary of  commerce  and  labor  to  assist  in  reviewing  such  appeals  be 
created. 

5.  To    protect    the    immigrant    against    exploitation;    to    dis- 
courage sending  savings  abroad ;  to  encourage  permanent  resi- 


ON   IMMIGRATION  43 

dence   and  naturalization;    and  to    secure   better    distribution   of 
alien  immigrants  throughout  the  country — 

(a)  The   states   should   enact   laws   strictly    regulating   immi- 
grant banks. 

(b)  Proper  state  legislation  should  be  enacted  for  the  regula- 
tion of  employment  agencies. 

(c)  Since   numerous    aliens   make   it   their   business    to   keep 
immigrants   from  influences  that  may  tend  toward  their  assimi- 
lation and  naturalization  as  American  citizens,  with  the  purpose 
of  using  their  funds,  of  encouraging  investment  of  their  savings 
abroad,  and  their  return  to  their  home  land,  aliens  who  attempt 
to  persuade  immigrants  not  to  become  American  citizens  should 
be  made  subject  to  deportation. 

(d)  Since  the  distribution  of  the  thrifty  immigrant  to  sections 
of  the  country  where  he  may  secure  a  permanent  residence  to  the 
best  advantage,  and  especially  where  he  may  invest  his  savings  in 
farms  or  engage  in  agricultural  pursuits,  is  most  desirable,  the 
division  of  information  should  be  so  conducted  as  to  cooperate 
with  states  desiring1  immigrant  settlers ;  and  information  concern- 
ing the   opportunities   for   settlement   should  -be   brought   to   the 
attention  of  immigrants  in  industrial  centers  who  have  been  here 
for  some  time  and  who  might  be  thus  induced  to   invest  their 
savings  in  this  country  and  become  permanent  agricultural  set- 
tlers.   The  division  might  also  secure  and  furnish  to  all  laborers 
alike  information  showing  opportunities   for  permanent  employ- 
ment   in    various    sections    of    the    country,    together    with    the 
economic  conditions  in  such  places. 

6.  One  of  the  provisions  of  section  2  of  the  act  of  1907  reads 
as  follows : 

"And  provided  further,  That  skilled  labor  may  be  imported  if 
labor  of  like  kind  unemployed  cannot  be  found  in  this  country." 

Instances  occasionally  arise,  especially  in  the  establishment 
of  new  industries  in  the  United  States,  where  labor  of  the  kind 
desired,  unemployed,  cannot  be  found  in  this  country  and  it  be- 
comes necessary  to  import  such  labor.  Under  the  law  the  secre- 
tary of  commerce  and  labor  has  no  authority  to  determine  the 
questions  of  the  necessity  for  importing  such  labor  in  advance  of 
the  importation,  and  it  is  recommended  that  an  amendment  to  the 
law  be  adopted  by  adding  to  the  clause  cited  above  a  provision 
to  the  effect  that  the  question  of  the  necessity  of  importing  such 
skilled  labor  in  any  particular  instance  may  be  determined  by  the 


44  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

secretary  of  commerce  and  labor  upon  the  application  of  any 
person  interested  prior  to  any  action  in  that  direction  by  such 
person ;  such  determination  by  the  secretary  of  commerce  and 
labor  to  be  reached  after  a  full  hearing  and  an  investigation  into 
the  facts  of  the  case. 

7.  The  general  policy  adopted  by  Congress  in  1882  of  exclud- 
ing Chinese  laborers  should  be  continued. 

The  question  of  Japanese  and  Korean  immigration  should  be 
permitted  to  stand  without  further  legislation  so  long  as  the 
present  method  of  restriction  proves  to  be  effective. 

An  understanding  should  be  reached  with  the  British  govern- 
ment, whereby  East  Indian  laborers  would  be  effectively 
prevented  from  coming  to  the  United  States. 

8.  The  investigations  of  the  commission  show   an  oversupply 
of  unskilled  labor  in  basic  industries  to  an  extent  which  indicates 
an  oversupply  of  unskilled  labor  in  the  industries  of  the  country 
as  a  whole,  and  therefore  demand  legislation  which  will  at  the 
present  time  restrict  the  further  admission  of  such  unskilled  labor. 

It  is  desirable  in  making  the  restriction  that — 

(a)  A    sufficient   number   be   debarred   to   produce   a    marked 
effect  upon  the  present  supply  of  unskilled  labor. 

(b)  As  far  as  possible,  the  aliens  excluded  should  be  those 
who  come  to  this  country  with  no  intention  to  become  American 
citizens    or    even   to   maintain    a   permanent   residence   here,    but 
merely  to    save   enough,   by  the   adoption,   if   necessary,    of  low 
standards  of  living,  to  return  permanently  to  their  home  country. 
Such    persons    are    usually    men    unaccompanied    by    wives    or 
children. 

(c)  As    far   as  possible   the    aliens   excluded   should   also    be 
those  who,  by  reason  of  their  personal  qualities  or  habits,  would 
least  readily   be  assimilated   or  would  make   the   least   desirable 
citizens. 

The  following'  methods  of  restricting  immigration  have  been 
suggested : 

(a)  The  exclusion  of  those  unable  to  read  or  write  in  some 
language. 

(b)  The  limitation  of  the  number  of  each  race  arriving  each 
year  to  a  certain  percentage  of  the  average  of  that  race  arriving 
during  a  given  period  of  years. 

(r)  The  exclusion  of  unskilled  laborers  unaccompanied  by 
wives  or  families. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  45 

(d)  The  limitation  of  the  number  of  immigrants  arriving 
annually  at  any  port. 

O)  The  material  increase  in  the  amount  of  money  required 
to  be  in  the  possession  of  the  immigrant  at  the  port  of  arrival. 

(f)  The  material  increase  of  the  head  tax. 

(g)  The  levy  of  the  head  tax  so  as  to  make  a  marked  dis- 
crimination in  favor  of  men  with  families. 

All  these  methods  would  be  effective  in  one  way  or  another 
in  securing  restrictions  in  a  greater  or  less  degree.  A  majority 
of  the  commission  favor  the  reading  and  writing  test  as  the  most 
feasible  single  method  of  restricting  the  undesirable  immigrant.1 

The  commission  as  a  whole  recommends  restriction,  as  de- 
manded by  economic,  moral,  and  social  considerations,  furnishes 
in  its  report  reasons  for  such  restriction,  and  points  out  methods 
by  which  Congress  can  attain  the  desired  result  if  its  judgment 
coincides  with  that  of  the  commission. 


New  York  (State)   Report  of  the  Commission  of 
Immigration,  1909 

General    Social    Condition    of   Aliens 

The  general  social  condition  of  the  alien  cannot  be  com- 
pletely portrayed  by  statistics  and  by  formal  statements,  but 
must  be  shown  at  least  partially  in  the  more  subtle  effects  upon 
him  and  his  family  by  the  environment  into  which  he  enters  and 
which  he  also  helps  to  create.  £>Tne  alien's  home,  his  children, 
his  daily  life,  his  recreation,  his  standard  of  life,  his  inevitable 
segregation,  his  relationship  to  his  contemporaries;  in  short,  all 
the  elements  that  promote  or  retard  assimilation  are  factors  in 
determining  his  general  social  status  and  should  not  be  omitted 
"in  an  investigation  into  the  condition,  welfare  and  industrial 
opportunities  of  aliens  within  the  state." 

Exclusion  of  Aliens. — The  social  condition  and  character  of 
aliens  who  come  to  this  country  are  partly  determined  by  the 
immigration  laws  of  the  United  States  which  forbid  the  admission 
of  those  likely  to  become  a  charge  upon  the  community,  or 
likely  to  endanger  its  citizens  by  physical  contagion,  vice  or  unfair 
competition.  The  following  classes  are  debarred :_ Idiots^  irn- 


1  "The  educational  test  proposed  is  a  selective  test  for  which  no  logical 
argument  can  be  based  on  the  report." — William  S.  Bennet  in  a  minority 
report. 


46  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

beciles,  feeble-minded,  insane  (including  those  who  have  been 
insane  within  the  past  five  years,  or  who-  have  had  two  attacks 
of  insanity),  persons  suffering  from  tuberculosis  in  any  form; 
those  with  contagious  or  infectious  diseases,  such  as  trachoma, 
favus  and  the  like ;  professional  beggars,  paupers,  persons  likely 
to  become  a  public  charge,  persons  whom  the  surgeon  certifies  to 
as  having  mental  or  physical  defects  which  may  affect  their 
ability  to  earn  a  living,  laborers  under  contract,  minors  under 
sixteen  years  of  age  unaccompanied  by  their  parents,  persons 
assisted  in  their  immigration,  criminals,  bigamists,  avowed  an- 
archists, prostitutes  and  females  coming  for  any  immoral  pur- 
pose, or  persons  who  procure  or  attempt  to  bring  in  prostitutes  or 
females  for  any  immoral  purpose.  While  the  total  number  of 
aliens  debarred  in  1908  was  only  10,902  the  actual  number  pre- 
vented from  coming  to  the  United  States,  as  the  result  of  the 
immigration  law,  was  much  larger.  The  steamship  companies 
refuse  passage  to  those  manifestly  likely  to  be  debarred,  and 
some  aliens  realizing  the  impossibility  of  passing  the  test,  do  not 
even  apply  for  steamship  tickets.  These  provisions  of  the 
Federal  Immigration  Law  tend  to  enhance  the  physical,  mental 
and  moral  standards  of  aliens  coming  to  this  country. 

A  further  protection  is  afforded  by  the  provisions  relative  to 
deportation.  Aliens  who  enter  in  violation  of  the  law,  and  such 
as  become  public  charges  from  causes  existing  prior  to  landing 
and  within  three  years  after  the  date  of  entry  may  be  deported. 
During  the  year  ending  June  30,  1908,  2,069  aliens,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  whom  were  residents  of  New  York,  were  ordered 
deported  by  the  federal  authorities  acting  in  conjunction  with 
the  various  penal  and  charitable  authorities  of  the  state.  The 
extent  to  which  New  York  may  be  relieved  from  the  cost  of 
supporting  deportable  aliens  depends  upon  the  efficiency  of  the 
cooperation  between  state,  municipal  and  federal  officials. 

Causes  of  Immigration. — While  the  restrictions  of  the  immi- 
gration law  determine  the  character  and  to  a  certain  extent  the 
volume  of  immigration,  the  latter  is  influenced  to  a  far  greater 
degree  by  the  economic  and  social  conditions  in  America  attract- 
ing aliens,  and  by  the  conditions  in  the  countries  from  which 
aliens  come. 

The  expanding  industries  of  the  country  in  good  times  and 
the  large  demand  for  unskilled  labor  in  mines,  factories,  work- 
shops and  on  farms,  are  the  main  causes  of  the  extensive  migra- 


ON   IMMIGRATION  47 

tion  of  Europeans  to  America.  This  demand  is  obviously  not  a 
fixed  quantity  and  its  variation  is  affected  by  the  population  and 
wealth,  which  the  aliens  themselves  help  to  produce.  Neverthe- 
less, the  resources  of  the  country  and  the  superiority  of  con- 
ditions over  those  of  Eastern  and  Southern  Europe  act  per- 
manently and  thousands  of  aliens  who  come  with  the  intention 
of  staying  two  or  three  years  form  new  interests  and  ties  in 
this  country  that  keep  them  here.  Some  do  return  to  their 
native  country,  and  this  number  is  affected  by  cheap  transporta- 
tion and  increased  facilities  for  travel,  and  even  of  these  many 
again  return  to  the  United  States. 

From  1903  to  1907  inclusive,  the  immigration  was  greater 
than  for  any  previous  years  in  the  history  of  the  country.  Ac- 
cording to  a  rough  estimate  made  by  the  Commissioner-General 
of  Immigration,  during  the  ten  years  from  July,  1899,  to  June  30, 
1908,  8,515,889  aliens  arrived  and  3,275,589  aliens  returned,  the 
total  immigration  exceeding  the  emigration  by  5,240,300.  The 
fiscal  year  1908  was  an  exceptional  year,  during  which  924,695 
aliens  arrived,  and  714,828  returned,  the  total  immigration 
exceeding  emigration  by  209,867.  During  the  year  ending  Decem- 
ber 31,  1908,  a  period  of  depression,  the  total  migration  of  588,447 
aliens  exceeded  the  total  immigration  of  557,585  by  30,862. 

The  earlier  immigration  was  from  Great  Britain,  Ireland, 
Germany  and  Scandinavian  countries  and  was  influenced  by 
economic  conditions  in  those  countries.  They  no  longer  send  so 
large  a  number  of  aliens  because  of  improved  conditions,  or  be- 
cause there  has  been  no  special  cause,  such  as  the  famine  in  Ire- 
land. The  immigration  is  now  from  the  countries  of  Southern 
and  Eastern  Europe  and  Asia  Minor.  From  Austria-Hungary 
come  Poles,  Slovaks,  Magyars,  Germans,  Croatians,  Jews,  Bohe- 
mians, Ruthenians,  Roumanians,  Bulgarians,  Dalmatians  and 
Italians;  from  Russia,  Jews,  Poles,  Ruthenians,  Finns,  Germans 
and  others.  From  other  countries,  Greeks,  Turks,  Syrians  and 
many  other  peoples. 

Some  of  the  motives  influencing  this  immigration  are  the 
following : 

In  countries  of  Southern  Europe  the  political  disabilities  of 
great  masses  of  the  population,  the  weight  of  taxation  and  com- 
pulsory military  service  lead  to  dissatisfaction  and  to  emigra- 
tion. Immigration  is  also  stimulated  by  steamship  agents  abroad, 
and  encouragement  by  relatives  and  friends  who  are  already 


48  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

here,  and  the  love  of  adventure  sends  many  young  men  to  seek 
their  fortunes  in  the  United  States. 

The  Jews  in  Russia  are  impelled  to  emigrate  largely  on 
account  of  religious  persecution  and  the  denial  of  political  and 
civil  rights.  The  Russian  laws  compel  the  mass  of  the  Jewish 
population  to  live  within  certain  prescribed  areas,  known  as  the 
Pale.  They  permit  them  to  engage  in  few  occupations,  prohibit 
them  from  acquiring  land ;  withold  from  them  the  privilege  of 
freely  entering  schools  and  universities;  debar  them  from  other 
essential  rights  accorded  to  other  sections  of  the  population. 
After  massacres,  such  as  those  of  Kishineff,  Odessa,  Bialystok, 
Siedlice,  there  is  a  flight  of  emigration  toward  America.  The 
withdrawal  from  the  Finns  of  the  right  of  self-government  led  to 
a  rapid  increase  in  emigration  by  them  to  the  United  States. 
Unsuccessful  attempts  at  revolution  and  reform  during  the  last 
few  years  have  also  brought  large  numbers  of  aliens,  including 
many  cultured  and  liberty-loving  men  and  women.  From  the 
earliest  days  this  country  has  been  a  haven  of  refuge  for  the 
oppressed  and  a  sanctuary  for  those  who  have  striven  unsuc- 
cessfully to  better  the  conditions  of  their  fellow-men.  The 
United  States  has  always  protected  the  political  refugees  who 
have  fled  to  this  country,  and  has  refused  to  surrender  those 
whose  extradition  is  sought  for  political  offenses. 

Aliens  when  they  land  are  generally  poor,  five-sixths  showing 
less  than  $50,  though  they  frequently  possess  much  more.  The 
majority  are  not  educated,  since  26  per  cent  of  all  over  fourteen 
years  of  age  are  unable  to  write.  As  a  rule  they  are  not  accus- 
tomed to  the  exercise  of  full  political  rights,  the  voting  privilege 
in  their  native  lands  being  ordinarily  limited  by  property  and 
educational  qualifications.  The  vast  majority  of  aliens,  coming 
as  they  do  from  rural  districts,  are  unskilled  workers,  and  the 
main  opportunity  for  them  is  as  common  laborers.  Yet  in  many 
of  the  skilled  trades  are  found  trained  artisans  from  other  lands. 
Often,  owing  to  inability  to  secure  employment  in  their  own 
trades,  aliens  enter  occupations  for  which  they  are  ill  adapted. 

In  immigration  the  rule  is,  men  arrive  first,  and  unmarried 
men  first  of  all.  In  1907,  72  per  cent  of  all  aliens  arriving  in  the 
United  States  were  male,  and  of  these  89  per  cent  or  over  64 
per  cent  of  all  were  above  the  age  of  fourteen.  Only  4  per  cent 
of  all  aliens  were  above  the  age  of  forty-five.  After  the  alien 
has  secured  his  foothold  and  learns  something  of  American  ways 


ON    IMMIGRATION  49 

and  customs  he  brings  over  his  wife  and  children,  or  if  he  is 
unmarried  he  often  revisits  his  native  land  and  returns  a  married 
man.  The  older  the  immigration,  other  things  being  equal,  the 
larger  is  the  percentage  of  women.  Thus,  in  1908,  among  the 
Irish,  51.1  per  cent  were  females;  of  the  Scandinavians,  Germans 
and  French,  over  40  per  cent  were  females ;  while  of  the  Greeks, 
who  are  among  the  recent  aliens,  only  6.9  per  cent,  were  females, 
and  of  the  Bulgarians,  Servians  and  Montenegrins,  4.5  per  cent 
were  females.1 

The  preponderance  of  young  men  accounts  for  the  fluidity  of 
the  alien  population.  Being  mainly  unattached  they  are  able  to 
move  forward  or  backward,  toward  America  or  from  America, 
in  answer  to  a  rising  or  lowering  demand  for  labor.  They  are 
also  able  to  move  rapidly  to  labor  camps  and  to  undertake  work 
of  a  temporary  or  seasonal  nature.  There  are  drawbacks  to  this 
excess  of  unmarried  men,  among  which  are  contentment  with 
lower  wages  and  bad  living  conditions,  and  the  social  disad- 
vantages incident  to  segregated  groups  of  males. 
J  Economic  Conditions. — The  alien,  though  a  rural  worker  at 
home,  here  to  a  large  extent  remains  in  the  city.  This  perma- 
nency of  urban  residence  is  due  to  various  causes,  including 
ignorance  of  opportunities  and  resources  in  other  parts  of  the 
country;  lack  of  incentive,  or  the  means  to  go  elsewhere;  reluc- 
tance to  leave  the  small  colony  to  which  he  first  attaches  himself, 
and  where  he  can  have  association  with  his  own  nationality  and 
race,  especially  those  of  his  native  province;  the  lack  of  protec- 
tion from  the  pitfalls  which  beset  him  when  seeking  to  make  his 
way  alone  among  strangers ;  and  the  self-interest  of  those  who 
profit  by  his  remaining  in  the  city. 

As  a  consequence,  although  the  alien  works  to  a  large  extent 
in  industries  grouped  about  small  towns  and  villages,  he  forms 
a  large  proportion  of  the  city  workers.  The  existence  in  New 
York  and  other  cities  of  the  state  of  large  numbers  of  persons 
unable  to  seek  their  best  economic  advantage,  leads  to  their 
employment  in  the  so-called  sweated  trades.  This  term  is  used 
to  denote  industrial  conditions  involving  hard-driven  workers, 
who  labor  long  hours  for  low  wages,  usually  in  their  living 
quarters  in  tenements  under  unsanitary  conditions.  These  trades 

1  The  Jews  furnish  an  exception  to  this  rule,  and  to  certain  other  rules 
concerning  immigration,  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  come  so  largely  on 
account  of  political  and  religious  persecution,  and  as  a  consequence  their 
migration  is  to  a  larger  extent  than  among  other  nationalities  a  family 
migration. 


50  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

have  developed  with  the  increase  of  immigration,  arid  in  this 
state  during  the  last  generation  these  workers  have  been  most 
largely  recruited  from  the  most  recent  immigration.  Wages  are 
low  and  factory  conditions,  though  much  improved,  are  far  from 
good.  Men,  women  and  children  labor  long  hours  under  unsani- 
tary conditions,  and  earn  wages  in  many  cases  materially  below 
the  current  wages  of  the  community.  Whole  families  work  in 
sleeping  rooms  temporarily  converted  into  workshops,  sometimes 
in  the  midst  of  filth  and  dirt.  The  work  during  certain  seasons 
lasts  until  late  at  night,  and  sometimes  long  after  the  workers' 
reserve  of  physical  strength  and  nervous  energy  is  exhausted. 
Children  are,  in  some  sections 'of  the  city,  kept  at  work  to  the 
injury  of  their  health. 

The  exclusion  of  aliens  from  many  of  the  skilled  trades  and 
professions  is  due  in  part  to  their  ignorance  of  the  English 
language  and  of  American  traditions,  to  lack  of  previous  training, 
or  at  least  of  a  training  similar  to  that  required  in  America,  and 
often  to  the  mere  fact  of  their  alienage. 

Their  wages  are  at  first  likely  to  be  low  because  they  are 
usually  forced  to  take  the  first  opportunity  offered  and  ordinarily 
do  not  have  the  protection  of  trade  unions  in  maintaining  wages 
and  limiting  hours  of  labor,  and  their  occupation  is  frequently 
restricted  to  what  the  padrone  or  labor  agent  may  offer,  who  is 
not  interested  in  raising  their  standard  of  living  or  acquainting 
them  with  the  standards  prevailing  in  this  country.  Furthermore, 
where  the  padrone  is  in  charge  of  the  commissary  he  sometimes 
sets  a  standard  below  that  of  aliens  in  their  own  country. 

Released  from  segregation  and  padrone  control  and  brought 
into  relationship  with  American  workingmen,  the  tendency  of 
the  alien  is  to  approximate  to  the  standard  of  the  American 
workingman.  The  very  pressure  of  American  industrial  con- 
ditions, as  well  as  climatic  changes,  makes  it  imperative  that  he 
be  better  fed  and  housed  and  clothed  than  he  was  in  his  native 
land.  The  poverty  and  low  wages  of  the  alien,  especially  during 
his  first  years  in  America,  tend  to  force  him,  together  with 
others  receiving  similar  wages,  into  the  least  desirable  sections 
of  the  city.  His  home  must  be  near  his  work  since  he  cannot 
afford  carfare  nor  the  time  required  to  walk  the  intervening 
distance,  and  in  his  free  time  he  desires  to  be  near  his  fellow- 
countrymen.  These  racial,  provincial  and  even  local  affiliations 
and  feelings  are  so  strong  that  the  Italian,  for  instance,  does  not 


ON   IMMIGRATION  51 

easily  or  willingly  live  in  districts  inhabited  by  other  nationalities, 
while  the  Calabrian  desires  to  live  apart  from  the  Sicilian,  and 
the  alien  from  one  part  of  a  city  seeks  his  residence  in  the 
neighborhood  of  others  from  the  same  section  of  the  same  city. 
In  New  York  city  all  these  forces  have  driven  the  alien  into 
overcrowded  districts  and  consequently  rentals  near  the  industrial 
centers  of  the  city  are  enhanced. 

\J Moral  Conditions. — The  alien  is  in  more  danger  of  moral  con- 
tamination than  the  rest  of  the  community.  Unless  specially 
protected,  he  is  likely,  through  inability  to  discriminate,  to  locate 
in  neighborhoods  and  houses  which  contain  disorderly  and  im- 
moral persons,  to  apply  to  unsafe  agencies  for  employment,  and 
to  frequent  places  of  amusement  which  are  injurious.  In  the 
case  of  the  alien  woman  the  danger  is  increased,  especially  where 
she  must  become  a  bread-winner  immediately  upon  arrival. 

v  Forces  of  Assimilation. — Although  city  life  increases  the  eco- 
nomic and  moral  dangers,  there  are  compensations  which  are 
frequently  more  apparent  than  these  dangers.  The  opportuni- 
ties for  education,  association  and  advancement  are  important 
to  the  alien.  Association  through  workshop,  societies,  and  with 
his  own  countrymen  appeal  strongly  to  him.  The  attractions  of 
the  crowd,  the  opportunities  for  amusement,  his  gregarious 
instincts,  charm  and  hold  him  in  the  city.  In  the  country  regions 
association  with  his  fellow-men  is  limited.  While  he  may  be 
familiar  with  farm  labor  he  is  not  accustomed  to  the  lack  of 
personal  sympathy,  nor  to  the  lack  of  association  with  those  of 
his  kind.  Educational  facilities  and  social  intercourse  are  taken 
into  consideration  by  him  when  he  chooses  his  home.  In  the 
cities  communities  of  different  alien  races  constitute  cities  within 
cities,  and,  therefore,  the  normal  assimilative  process,  through 
association,  work,  home  life,  and  like  causes,  is  not  adequate, 
and  many  aliens  do  not  come  into  contact  with  that  element  of 
our  population  which  can  understand  them,  or  which  can  interpret 
to  them  the  underlying  principles  of  American  institutions. 
Because  of  this  need  there  have  been  organized  groups  and 
movements  intended  to  more  effectively  Americanize  the  alien. 
Among  these  are  settlements,  institutional  churches,  educational 
associations,  clubs,  and  recreation  centers. 

Those  connected  with  these  movements  believe  that  something 
is  lost  to  the  state  if  the  alien  fails  to  comprehend  that  America, 
Russia,  Italy  and  Hungary  and  other  countries  hold  many  ideals 


52  SELECTED     ARTICLES 

in  common,  and  that  a  Garibaldi,  a  Tolstoy,  or  a  Kossuth  are 
revered  here  as  well  as  in  the  land  of  their  origin.  In  the  opinion 
of  these  friends  of  the  alien,  respect  for  his  fine  traditional 
qualities  tends  more  rapidly  to  make  of  him  a  good  American, 
and  to  understand  the  genius  of  our  institutions  than  he  would 
by  attempts  to  instil  American  traditions  and  nothing  else. 
Opportunities  for  service  to  the  alien  on  the  part  of  the  organi- 
zations referred  to  are  met  by  classes,  lectures  and  clubs,  but 
largely  by  personal  association. 

/  Within  the  past  few  years,  religious  organizations  have  taken 
a  deeper  interest  in  the  alien.  Some  of  them  maintain  immigrant 
homes,  conduct  study  classes  and  issue  publications  for  the 
Americanization  of  the  alien.  They  have  established  centers  in 
various  neighborhoods  in  which  are  conducted  classes  in  English, 
and  where  social  opportunities  are  afforded  the  newly-arrived 
alien  to  meet  those  who  have  been  in  the  country  for  longer 
periods,  and  where  they  can  become  acquainted  with  American 
traditions  and  customs. 

j  As  wages  increase  and  aliens  become  more  skilled  with  length 
of  residence  and  with  the  improvement  of  transit  facilities  they 
remove  from  crowded  districts  to  other  parts  of  the  city.  •'Trade 
organizations  are  important  factors  in  assimilation.  A  number 
of  them  have  membership  among  the  aliens,  whom  they  not  only 
instruct  in  American  standards  of  living  and  impress  upon  them 
the  necessity  for  maintaining  them,  but  in  some  instances,  espe- 
cially among  the  women,  maintain  classes  in  English,  and 
conduct  social  meetings. 

Conclusions. — It  is  thus  evident  that  the  progress  and  devel- 
opment of  the  alien,  and  his  assimilation,  depend  upon  a  multi- 
tude of  influences,  some  subjective,  others  objective;  some 
beneficent,  others  detrimental.  While  a  continuance  of  the  policy 
which  has  heretofore  quite  generally  prevailed,  of  indifference  to 
the  welfare  of  the  alien  and  that  of  the  state  in  its  relations  to 
him,  would,  in  the  majority  of  instances,  prove  harmless,  because 
of  the  innate  moral  strength  and  the  plasticity  of  the  alien,  it  is 
equally  true  that  the  state,  as  well  as  the  alien,  would  derive 
incalculable  advantage  by  the  creation  of  a  better  environment 
for  the  alien,  and  by  inculcating  in  him  a  feeling  of  trust  and 
confidence  in  our  institutions. 


ON    IMMIGRATION  53 

Atlantic  Monthly.     102:745-59.     December,  1908 

Races  in  the  United  States.     William  Z.  Ripley 

The  population  of  Europe  may,  in  a  rough  way,  be  divided 
into  an  east  and  a  west.  The  contrast  between  the  two  may 
be  best  illustrated,  perhaps,  in  geological  terms.  Everywhere 
these  populations  have  been  laid  down  originally  in  more  or  less 
distinct  strata.  In  the  Balkan  States  and  Austria-Hungary,  this 
stratification  is  recent  and  still  distinct;  while  in  western  Europe 
the  several  layers  have  become  metamorphosed  by  the  fusing 
heat  of  nationality  and  the  pressure  of  civilization.  But  in  both 
instances  these  populations  are  what  the  geologist  would  term 
sedimentary.  In  the  United  States,  an  entirely  distinct  formation 
occurs  ;  which,  in  continuation  of  our  geological  figure,  may 
best  be  characterized  by  the  term  eruptive.  We  havej:o  do,  not 
with  the  slow  processes  of  growth  by  deposit  or  accretion,  but 
with  violent  and  _Koltffwio  -dislocation.  We  are  called  upon  to 
survey  a  lava-flow  of  population,  suddenly  cast  fortfi  from 


solely  from  the  standpoint  of  numbers,  the  phe- 
nomenon of  American  immigration  is  stupendous.  We  have  be- 
come so  accustomed  to  it  in  the  United  States  that  we  often  lose 
sight  of  its  numerical  magnitude.  /'About  25,000,000  people  have 
come  to  the  United  States  from  alt  over  Europe  since  1820.  This 
is  about  equal  to  the  entire  population  of  the  United  Kingdom 
only  fifty  years  ago,  at  the  time  of  our  Civil  War.  It  is,  again, 
more  than  the  population  of  all  Italy  in  the  time  of  Garibaldi. 
Otherwise  stated,  this  army  of  people  would  populate,  as  it 
stands  to-day,  all  that  most  densely  settled  section  of  the  United 
States  north  of  Maryland  and  east  of  the  Great  Lakes,  —  all  New 
England,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania,  in  fact. 

This  horde  of  immigrants,  has  mainly  come  since  the  Irish 
potato  famine  of  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  The  rapid  in- 
crease year  by  year  has  taken  the  form,  not  of  a  steady  growth, 
but  of  an  intermittent  flow.  First  came  the  people  of  the  British 
Isles  after  the  downfall  of  Napoleon,  2000  in  1815  and  35,000  in 
1819.  Thereafter  the  numbers  remain  about  75,000  yearly,  until 
the  Irish  famine,  when,  in  1852,  368,000  immigrants  from  the 
British  Isles  landed  on  our  shores.  These  were  succeeded  by  the 
Germans,  largely  moved  at  first  by  the  political  events  of  1848. 
By  1854  a  million  and  a  half  Teutons,  mainly  from  northern 


54  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

Germany,  had  settled  in  America.  So  many  were  there  that  am- 
bitious plans  for  the  foundation  of  a  German  state  in  the  new 
country  were  actually  set  on  foot.  The  later  German  immigrants 
were  recruited  largely  from  the  Rhine  provinces,  and  have  set- 
tled further  to  the  northwest,  in  Wisconsin  and  Iowa ;  the  ear- 
liest wave  having  come  from  northern  Germany  to  Ohio,  Indiana, 
and  Missouri.  The  Swedes  began  to  come  after  the  Civil  War. 
Their  immigration  culminated  in  1882  with  the  influx  ofoaboilt 
50,000  in  that  year.  More  recent  still  are  the  Italians,  beginning 
with  a  modest  20,000  in  18/6,  rising  to  over  200,000  arrivals  in 
1888,  and  constituting  an  army  of  300,000  in  the  single  year  of 
1907 :  and  accompanying  the  Italian  has  come  the  great  horde  of 
Slavs,  Huns,  and  Jews. 

Wave  has  followed  wave,  each  higher  than  the  last, — the  ebb 
and  flow  being  dependent  upon  economic  conditions  in  large 
measure.  It  is  the  last  great  wave,  ebbing  since  last  fall,  which 
has  most  alarmed  us  in  America.  This  gathered  force  on 
the  revival  of  prosperity  about  1897,  but  it  did  not  attain 
full  measure  until  1900.  Since  that  year  over  six  million 
people  have  landed  on  our  shores, — one-quarter  of  the  total 
immigration  since  the  beginning.  The  newcomers  of  these 
eight  years  alone  would  repopulate  all  the  five  older  New  Eng- 
land states  as  they  stand  today;  or,  if  properly  disseminated 
over  the  newer^  parts  of  the  country,  they  would  serve  to  popu- 
late no  less  thkn  nineteen  states  of  the  Union  as  they  stand. 
The  new-comers  of  the  last  eight  years  could,  if  suitably  seated 
in  the  land,  elect  thirty-eight  out  of  the  present  ninety-two 
Senators  of  the  United  States.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  thoughtful 
political  students  stand  somewhat  aghast?  In  the  last  of  these 
eight  years — 1907 — there  were  one  and  one  quarter  million  ar- 
rivals. This  number  would  entirely  populate  both  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Maine,  two  of  our  oldest  states,  with  an  aggregate 
territory  approximately  equal  to  Ireland  and  Wales.  The  arriv- 
als of  this  one  year  would  found  a  state  with  more  inhabitants 
than  any  one  of  twenty-one  of  our  other  existing  common- 
Wealths  which  could,  be  named. 

J  It  is  not  alone  the  rapid  increase  in  our  immigration  which 
merits  attention.  It  is  also  the  radical  change  in  its  character, 
in  the  source  from  whence  it  comes.  Whereas,  until  about 
twenty  years  ago,  our  immigrants  were  drawn  from  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  or  Teutonic  populations  of  north-western  Europe,  they 


ON   IMMIGRATION  55 

have^swarmed  over  here  in  rapidly  growing  proportions  since 
that  time  from  Mediterranean,  Slavic,  and  Oriental  sources. 
A  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  two-thirds  of  our  immigration  was 
truly  Teutonic  or  Anglo-Saxon  in  origin.  At  the  present  time, 
less  than  one-sixth  comes  from  this  source.  The  British  Isles, 
Germany,  Scandinavia,  and  Canada  unitedly  sent  us  90  per  cent 
of  our  immigrants  in  the  decade  to  1870;  82.8  per  cent  in  1870-80; 
75.6  per  cent  in  1880-90;  and  only  41.8  per  cent  in  1890-1900. 
Since  then,  the  proportion  has  been  very  much  smaller  still. 
Germany  used  to  contribute  one-third  of  our  new-comers.  In 
1907  it  sent  barely  one-seventh.  On  the  other  hand,  Russia, 
Austria-Hungary,  and  Italy,  which  produced  about  I  per  cent 
of  the  total  in  1860-70,  jointly  contributed  50.1  per  cent  in  1890- 
1900.  Of  the  million  and  a  quarter  arrivals  in  1907,  almost 
900,000  came  from  these  three  countries  alone.  I  have  been 
at  some  pains  to  reclassify  the  immigration  for  1907,  in  conform- 
ity with  the  racial  groupings  of  the  "Races  of  Europe";  disre- 
garding, that  is  to  say,  mere  linguistic  affiliations,  and  dividing 
on  the  basis  of  physical  types.  The  total  of  about  one  and  one- 
quarter  million  arrivals  was  distributed  as  follows:— 

330,000  Mediterranean  Race  (one-quarter) 

194,000  Alpine  Race  (one-sixth) 

330,000  Slavic   Race   (one-quarter) 

194,000  Teutonic   Race    (one-sixth) 

146,000  Jewish    (mainly    Russian)     (one-eighth) 

In  that  year,  330,000  South  Italians  took  the  place  of  the 
250,000  Germans  who  came  in  1882,  when  the  Teutonic  immigra- 
tion was  at  its  flood.  One  and  one-half  million  Italians  have 
come  since  1900;  over  one  million  Russians;  and  a  million  and  a 
half  natives  of  Austria-Hungary.  We  have  even  tapped  the 
political  sinks  of  Europe,  and  are  now  drawing  large  numbers 
of  Greeks,  Armenians,  and  Syrians.  No  people  is  too  mean  or 
lowly  to  seek  an  asylum  on  our  shores. 

The  net  result  of  this  immigration  has  been  to  produce  a 
congeries  of  human  beings,  unparalleled  for  ethnic  diversity 
anywhere  else  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  most  complex 
populations  of  Europe,  such  as  those  of  the  British  Isles,  North- 
ern France,  or  even  the  Balkan  States,  seem  ethnically  pure  by 
contrast. 

Our  people  have  been  diverse  in  origin  from  the  start  to  a 
greater  degree  than  is  ordinarily  supposed.  Virginia  and  New 


56  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

England,  to  be  sure,  were  for  a  long  time  Anglo-Saxon  un- 
defiled ;  but  in  the  otber  colonies  there  was  much  intermixture, 
such  as  the  German  in  Pennsylvania,  the  Swedish  along  the 
Delaware,  the  Dutch  in  New  York,  and  the  Scotch  High- 
lander and  Huguenot  in  the  Carolinas.  Little  centres  of  foreign 
inoculation  in  the  early  days  are  discoverable  everywhere. 

Concerning  New  York  City,  Father  Jognes  states  that  the 
Director-General  told  him  of  eighteen  languages  spoken  there  in 
1644.  For  the  entire  thirteen  colonies  at  the  time  of  the  Revo- 
lution, we  have  it  on  good  authority  that  one-fifth  of  the  popu- 
lation could  not  speak  English  ;  and  that  one-half  at  least  was 
not  Anglo-Saxon  by  descent.  Upon  such  a  stock,  it  is  little 
wonder  that  the  grafting  of  these  twenty-five  million  imnllgrants 
promises  to  produce  an  extraordinary  human  product. 

For  over  half  a  century  more  than  one-seventh  of  our  aggre- 
gate population  has  been  of  actually  foreign  birth.  This  pro- 
portion of  actual  foreigners  of  all  sorts  varies  greatly,  however, 
as  between  the  different  states.  In  Minnesota  and  New  York, 
for  example,  at  the  present  time,  the  foreign-born,  as  we  denote 
them  statistically,  constitute  about  a  fourth  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation; in  Massachusetts,  the  proportion  is  about  one-third;  oc- 
casionally, as  in  North  Dakota  in  1890,  it  approaches  one-half 
(42  per  cent).  It  is  in  the  cities,  of  course,  that  this  proportion 
of  actual  foreigners  rises  highest.  In  New  York  City  there  are 
over  two  million  people  born  in  Europe,  who  have  come  there 
hoping  to  better  their  lots  in  life.  Boston  has  an  even  higher 
proportion  of  actual  foreigners,  but  the  relatively  larger  num- 
bers of  those  speaking  English,  such  as  the  Irish,  renders  the 
phenomenon  less  striking.  Nevertheless,  within  a  few  blocks, 
in  a  colony  of  28,000  people,  there  are  no  less  than  twenty-five 
distinct  nationalities.  In  this  entire  district,  once  the  fashion- 
able quarter  of  Boston,  out  of  the  28,000  inhabitants,  only  1500 
in  1895  had  parents  born  in  the  United  States. 

The  full  measure  of  our  ethnic  diversity  is  revealed  only 
when  one  aggregates  the  actually  foreign-born  with  their  chil- 
dren born  in  America,— totalizing,  as  we  call  it,  the  foreign-born 
and  the  native-born  of  foreign  parentage.  This  group  thus  in- 
cludes only  the  first  generation  of  American  descent.  Often- 
times even  the  second  generation  may  remain  ethnically  as 
undefiled  as  the  first;  but  our  positive  statistical  data  carry  us 
no  further.  This  group  of  foreign-born  with  its  children  con- 


ON   IMMIGRATION  57 

stittites  to-day  upwards  of  one-third  of  our  total  population ; 
and,  excluding  the  negroes,  it  equals  almost  one-half  (46  per 
cent)  of  the  whole  white  population.  This  is  for  the  country 
as  a  whole.  Considered  by  states  or  cities,  the  proportion  is,  of 
course,  much  higher.  Baltimore,  one  of  our  purest  American 
cities,  had  40  per  cent  of  foreigners  with  their  children  in  1900. 
In  Boston,  the  proportion  leaps  to  70  per  cent;  in  New  York  to 
80  per  cent;  and  it  reaches  a  maximum  in  Milwaukee,  with  86 
per  cent  thus  constituted.  Imagine  an  English  city  of  the  size 
of  Edinburgh  with  only  about  one  person  in  eight  English  by 
descent  through  only  a  modest  two  generations.  To  this  condi- 
tion must  be  added  the  probability  that  not  over  one-half  of 
that  remnant  of  a  rear-guard  can  trace  its  descent  on  American 
soil  as  far  back  as  a  third  generation.  Were  we  to  eliminate 
these  foreigners  and  their  children  from  our  city  population, 
it  has  been  estimated  that  Chicago,  with  today  a  population  of 
over  two  millions,  would  dwindle  to  a  city  of  not  much  over  one 
hunched  thousand  inhabitants. 

i/One  may  select  industries  practically  given  over  to  for- 
eigners*— -Over  90  ~p er  cent  -oi -  the— teilors-  o f  New  York  City 
are  Jews,  mainly  Russian  and  Polish.  In  Massachusetts,  the 
centre  of  our  staple  cotton  manufacture,  out  of  98,000  employees, 
one  finds  that  only  3900,  or  about  4  per  cent,  are  native-born 
Americans  ;  and  most  of  those  are  of  Irish  or  Scotch-Irish  de- 
scent two  generations  back.  All  of  our  day  labor,  once  Irish,  is 
now  Italian  ;  our  fruit-venders,  once  Italian,  are  now  becoming 
Greek ;  and  our  coal  mines,  once  manned  by  people  from  the 
British  Isles,  are  now  worked  by  Hungarians,  Poles,  Slovaks,  or 
Finals. 

V  A  special  study  of  the  linguistic  conditions  in  Chicago  well 
illustrates  our  racial  heterogeneity.  Among^thc  people  of  that 
great  city, — the  second  in  size  in  the  United  States, — fourteen 
languages  are  spoken  by  groups  of  not  less  than  ten  thousand 
persons  each.  Newspapers  are  regularly  published  in  ten  lan- 
guages ;  and  church  services  are  conducted  in  twenty  different 
tongues.  Measured  by  the  size  of  its  foreign  linguistic  colonies, 
Chicago  is  the  second  Bohemian  city  in  the  world,  the  third 
Swedish,  the  fourth  Polish,  and  the  fifth  German  (New  York 
being  the  fourth).  There  is  one  large  factory  in  Chicago  em- 
ploying over  four  thousand  people,  representing  twenty-four 
distinct  nationalities.  Rules  of  the  establishment  are  regularly 


58  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

printed  in  eight  languages.  In  one  block  in  New  York,  where 
friends  of  mine  are  engaged  in  college  settlement  work,  there 
are  1400  people  of  twenty  distinct  nationalities.  There  are  more 
than  two-thirds  as  many  native-born  Irish  in  Boston  as  in  the 
capital  city,  Dublin.  With  their  children,  mainly  of  pure  Irish 
blood,  they  make  Boston  indubitably  the  leading  Irish  city  in  the 
world.  New  York  is  a  larger  Italian  city  today  than  Rome, 
having  500,000  Italian  colonists.  It  contains  no  less  than  800,000 
Jews,  mainly  from  Russia.  Thus  it  is  also  the  foremost 
Jewish  city  in  the  world.  Pittsburg,  the  centre  of  our  iron  and 
steel  industry,  is  another  tower  of  Babel.  It  is  said  to  contain 
more  of  that  out-of-the-way  people,  the  Servians,  than  the 
capital  of  Servia  itself. 

Such  being  the  ethnic  diversity  of  our  population,  the  primary 
and  fundamental  physical  question  is,  whether  these  racial 
groups  are  to  coalesce  to  form  ultimately  a  more  or  less  uni- 
form American  type ;  or  whether  they  are  to  combine  their  sepa- 
rate existences  within  the  confines  of  one  political  unit.  Will 
the  progress  of  time  bring  about  intermixture  of  these  diverse 
types?  or  will  they  remain  separate,  distinct,  and  perhaps  dis- 
cordant, elements  for  an  indefinite  period,  like  the  warring 
nationalities  of  Austria-Hungary  and  the  Balkan  States? 

Science,  n.  s.  39:147-8.    January  23,  1914 

Some   Results  of  the  First  Census  of   European   Races   in  the 
United   States.1     Daniel  Folkrnar 

One  of  the  most  interesting  facts  disclosed  in  this  report  is 
the  great  numerical  preponderance  which  is  still  held  by  the 
mother  tongues  of  northwestern  Europe,  as  a  whole,  notwith- 
standing the  high  rank  numerically  which  has  been  gained  by  a 
few  individual  mother  tongues  from  eastern  and  southern  Europe 
— especially  the  Italian,  Polish  and  Yiddish.  These  three  now 
stand  third,  fourth  and  fifth  in  rank.  The  English  and  Celtic 
mother  tongues  are  by  all  odds  the  ones  most  largely  represented 

1  A  new  feature  of  the  Thirteenth  Census  was  the  inclusion  in  its  popu- 
lation schedule  of  an  inquiry  about  mother  tongue  in  addition  to  that  about 
country  of  birth.  As  a  result  of  this  inquiry  new  light  is  thrown  on  the 
make  up  of  our  alien  population.  All  persons  born  in  Russia  are  not 
Russians.  All  persons  coming  from  Germany  are  not  Germans.  It  is  of 
value  therefore  to  know  how  many  of  them  are  Hebrew,  how  many  Polish, 
Finnish,  etc.  Mother  tongue  is  taken  to  mean  the  language  of  customary 
speech  in  the  homes  of  immigrants  before  immigration.  M.  K.  R. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  59 

in  the  foreign  white  stock  of  the  United  States.  The  number, 
10,037,420,  is  considerably  greater  than  that  of  the  German 
mother  tongue,  which  latter  contributes  more  than  one-fourth 
(27.3  per  cent)  of  the  total  foreign  white  stock  of  the  United 
States,  as  reported  in  1910.  Italian,  Polish  and  Yiddish  come 
next  in  rank,  but  none  of  them  number  as  much  as  one-fourth 
of  the  German.  To  these  three  mother  tongues,  intermediate 
in  rank  but  considerable  in  numbers,  may  be  added  the  Swedish, 
French  and  Norwegian,  all  belonging  to  northwestern  Europe, 
except  a  portion  of  the  French.  No  other  mother  tongue  than 
the  eight  thus  far  enumerated  furnishes  as  much  as  2  per  cent  of 
the  total  of  the  foreign  white  stock  of  the  United  States,  or 
numbers  as  much  as  1,000,000.  The  eight  major  mother-tongue 
stocks  already  named  account  for  87.5  per  cent  of  the  total 
foreign  white  stock. 

How  small  a  factor  the  "new"  immigration  from  southern 
and  eastern  Europe  really  is  up  to  the  present  time,  may  be 
better  shown  by  comparing  it  with  the  total  white  population 
of  the  United  States.  Taking  as  100  per  cent  the  total  white 
population  of  the  United  States  in  1910,  numbering  81,731,957, 
the  so-called  "native  stock"  constitutes  60.5  per  cent  and  the 
three  great  linguistic  families  of  foreign  stock  from  northwestern 
Europe  constitute  27.1  per  cent,  making  a  total  of  87.6  per  cent. 
The  elements  from  southern  and  eastern  Europe  constitute, 
therefore,  less  than  13  per  cent  of  the  total.  Of  this  the  two 
principal  Latin  mother  tongues — the  French  and  the  Italian — 
contribute  less  than  5  per  cent,  and  the  two  principal  Slavic 
mother  tongues — the  Polish  and  the  Bohemian — and  the  Hebrew, 
taken  together,  contribute  also  less  than  5  per  cent,  leaving  to  all 
the  remaining  mother  tongues  another  5  per  cent  or  less  of 
the  total.  Of  the  total  foreign  white  stock  of  the  United  States, 
32,243,382,  there  are  8,817,271  persons  who  are  of  German  stock 
when  counted  according  to  mother  tongue,  but  a  trifle  under 
8,500,000  (8,495,142)  of  German  stock  when  counted  by  their 
country  of  origin,  Germany. 

Immigrants  from  Austria  are  far  more  Slavic  than  Germanic. 
Russian  immigration  is  shown  to  be  far  more  Hebrew  (52.3  per 
cent)  than  Russian  (2.5  per  cent)  or  even  Slavic.  Immigration 
from  Turkey  in  Europe  is  not  so  much  Turkish  as  Greek  and 
Bulgarian.  Both  the  first  and  the  second  generations  of  immi- 
gration from  Russia  show  that  over  50  per  cent  report  Yiddish 
and  Hebrew  as  their  mother  tongue.  The  returns  for  "Yiddish 


6o 


SELECTED    ARTICLES 


and  Hebrew"  reflect  ethnic  composition  less  satisfactorily  than 
the  returns  for  other  mother  tongues.  A  part — how  large  a  part 
there  is  no  means  of  judging — of  those  whose  ancestral  lan- 
ugage  is  Hebrew  doubtless  have  reported  German,  English, 
Polish  or  other  mother  tongues.  Of  the  total  number  of  Yiddish- 
speaking  people  838,193  came  from  Russia,  144,484  from  Austria- 
Hungary,  41,342  from  Roumania,  14,409  from  the  United  King- 
dom, and  7,910  from  Germany. 

The  full  list  of  mother  tongues  as  reported  at  the  Thirteenth 
Census  is  given  for  the  total  foreign  white  stock  (which  includes 
the  foreign  born  and  the  natives  of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage) 
and  for  the  foreign-born  whites  separately,  as  follows : 

Total  Foreign 

Foreign  White  born 

Mother  Tongue  Stock,    1910  White 

All  mother  tongues    32,243,382  13, 345, 545 

English  and  Celtic"    10,037,420  3,363,792 

Germanic : 

German    8,817,271  2,759,032 

Dutch  and  Frisian   324,930  126,045 

Flemish    44,806  25,780 

Scandinavian: 

Swedish   1,445,869  683,218 

Norwegian    1,009,854  402,587 

Danish    446,473  186,345 

Latin  and  Greek: 

Italian    2,151,422  1,365,110 

French 1,357,169  528,842 

Spanish 448,198  258,131 

Portuguese    141,268  72,649 

Roumanian    51,124  42,277 

Greek   130,379  1 18,379 

Slavic  and  Lettic: 

Polish     1,707,640  943,781 

Bohemian   and  Moravian    539,392  228,738 

Slovak    284,444  166,474 

Russian    95, 137  57,926 

Ruthenian   35,359  25,131 

Slovenian    183,431  123,631 

Serbo  Croatian: 

Croatian    93,036  74,036 

Dalmatian ..  5, 505  4,344 

Servian    26,752  23,403 

Montenegrin     3,961  3,886 

Bulgarian    19,380  18,341 

Slavic,  n.  s 35,195  21,012 

Lithuanian  and  Lettish 211,235  140,963 

•  Includes  persons  reporting  Irish,  Scotch  or  Welsh. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  61 

Total  Foreign 

Foreign  White  born 

Mother   Tongue                                                       Stock,    1910  White 

Miscellaneous: 

Yiddish  and  Hebrew   1,676,762  1,051,767 

Magyar    320,893  229,094 

Finnish    200,688  120,086 

Armenian    30,021  23,938 

Syrian  and  Arabic   46,727  32,868 

Turkish    5,44*  4,709 

Albanian    2,366  2,312 

All  other 790  646 

Unknown    313,044  1 16,272 


Immigration    Legislation1 
Colonial  Times  to   1835 

1819     A  law  was   passed  regulating  the  carriage  of  steerage 
passengers  at  sea  and  providing  for  the   recording  of  statistics 
relative  to  immigration  to  the  United  States. 
''Native  American"  and  "Know  Nothing"  Period,  1835-1860 

This  period  was  characterized  by  active  agitation,  chiefly  of 
an  anti-Catholic  nature,  but  practically  no  legislation  resulted. 

1836  The  Secretary  of  State  was  directed  to  collect  informa- 
tion relating  to  immigration  of  foreign  paupers  and  criminals. 

1838  The  Committee  on  Judiciary  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives was  instructed  to  consider  the  expediency  of  revising 
the  naturalization  laws,  and  of  providing  by  law  against  the 
introduction  of  vagabonds  and  paupers  deported  from  foreign 
countries.  No  legislative  action  was  taken. 

1847-1848.  Amendments  to  the  law  of  1819  in  the  interests 
of  better  steerage  conditions  were  passed. 

1855  Another  attempt  to  regulate  steerage  conditions  was 
made  in  the  passage  of  a  law  providing  for  increased  air  space, 
better  ventilation,  etc.  Unfortunately  the  wording  of  the  act 
made  these  provisions  practically  inoperative. 

Period  of  State  Control,  1861-1882 

1864  A  law  was  passed  to  encourage  immigration  for  the 
purpose  of  meeting  the  anticipated  demand  for  labor  following 
the  civil  war.  The  law  provided  for  the  appointment  of  a 
Commissioner  of  Immigration.  There  was  also  a  provision  relat- 

1  A  summary  based  on  the  Report  of  the  Immigration  Commission. 
M.  K.  R. 


62  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

ing  to  contract  labor,  contracts  entered  on  in  foreign  countries  to 
be  valid  in  the  United  States. 

1866  An  amendment  to  the  foregoing  law  provided  for 
additional  commissioners  of  immigration  to  be  stationed  in  cities 
on  the  Atlantic  coast. 

In  this  year  Congress  also  passed  a  resolution  protesting 
against  the  practice  of  foreign  countries  of  using  the  United 
States  as  a  dumping  ground  for  criminals,  etc. 

1868     The  law  of   1864  was  repealed. 

1875  A  law  was  passed  providing  for  the  exclusion  of  pros- 
titutes. 

1876  A  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  rendered  much  of  the 
state  legislation  relating  to  immigration  invalid  and  the  period 
of  national  control  began. 

Period  of  National  Control,  1882- 

1882  The  first  g'eneral  immigration  law  was  passed  with  the 
following  provisions:  A  head  tax  of  50  cents  was  imposed; 
convicts  (except  those  convicted  for  political  offence),  lunatics, 
idiots  and  persons  likely  to  become  public  charges  were  excluded ; 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  given  power  of  enforcement 
with  the  right  to  delegate  powers  to  state  authorities. 

The  first  effective  law  regulating  steerage  conditions  was 
also  passed  in  this  year. 

1885  A  law  forbidding  the  importation  of  contract  labor  was 
passed.  It  made  no  provision,  however,  for  inspection  or  the 
deportation  of  contract  laborers. 

1887  JThe  defect  of  the  contract  labor  law  was  remedied  by 
an  amendment  giving  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  the  right  to 
enforce  its  provisions. 

1888  Another  amendment  provided  for  the  deportation  within 
a  year  of  any  immigrant  landed  contrary  to  the  law  of  1885. 

1889  A  Standing  Committee  on   Immigration  in  the  Senate 
and  a  Select  Committee  on  Immigration  in  the  House  were  estab- 
lished. ».  In   1890  these  committees  were   authorized  to  make  an 
investigation    of   immigration    and    the    working   of    the    various 
laws  relating  to  it. 

1891  On  the  recommendations  of  these  committees  a  law  was 
passed  with  the  following  provisions: 

The  head  tax  of  50  cents  was  retained. 

Persons  suffering  from  a  loathsome  or  a  dangerous  contagious 


ON   IMMIGRATION  63 

disease,  and  polygamists  were  added  to  the  classes  to  be 
excluded. 

The  encouragement  of  immigration  through  advertisements 
promising  employment  was  forbidden,  and  transportation  com- 
panies were  forbidden  to  solicit  or  encourage  immigration. 

The  office  of  Superintendent  of  Immigration~wa~s~  authorized 
and  federal  control  of  immigration  was  fully  established  by  the 
transference  to  federal  authorities  of  those  functions  that  had 
been  delegated  to  the  states. 

The  commanding  officer  of  any  vessel  bringing  in  alien  immi- 
grants was  required  to  make  full  reports  as  to  name,  nationality, 
etc.,  of  such  aliens: 

Examination  on  the  borders  of  Canada  and  Mexico  was  pro- 
vided for. 

Provision  was  made  for  the  return  within  a  year  of  any 
alien  landed  in  violation  of  the  law,  such  return  to  be  at  the 
expense  of  the  transportation  company. 

1892  A  joint  committee  was  appointed  to  make  an  investiga- 
tion of  the  workings  of  the  various  laws. 

1893  An  amendment  raised  the  head  tax  from  50  cents  to  $i. 

1897  A   bill    providing   for   an    educational    test   passed   both 
houses,  but  was  vetoed  by  President  Cleveland. 

1898  An   Industrial  Commission  was  created  with  power  to 
investigate  questions  pertaining   to   immigration  and   to   suggest 
legislation. 

1903  A  law  was  passed,  the  principal  object  of  which  was  to 
codify  all  previous  legislation  from  the  act  of  1875  to  the  act  of 
1894.  It  also  raised  the  head  tax  from  $i  to  $2;  debarred  the 
following:  epileptics,  persons  who  had  been  insane  within  five 
years  previous,  or  who  had  had  two  previous  attacks  of  insanity 
at  any  time,  professional  beggars,  anarchists ;  and  made  it  unlaw- 
ful for  any  person  to  assist  in  the  unlawful  entry  or  naturalization 
of  an  anarchist.  The  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  was 
organized  and  the  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration  was 
placed  under  the  jurisprudence  and  supervision  of  that  depart- 
ment. 

1906  A  law  was  passed  providing  a  uniform  rule  for  natural- 
ization of  aliens.    The  designation  of  the  Bureau  of  Immigration 
was  changed  to  Bureau  of  Immigration  and  Naturalization. 

1907  A  number  of  bills  relating  to  immigration  were  intro- 
duced in  the  sessions  of  the  59th   Congress.     After  much  dis- 


64  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

cussion  and  many  amendments  a  law  was  passed,  of  which  the 
following  were  the  provisions : 

The  head  tax  was  placed  at  $4. 

The  following  classes  were  added  to  those  excluded :  Imbe- 
ciles, feeble-minded  persons,  unaccompanied  children  under  17, 
persons  "who  are  found  to  be  mentally  and  physically  defective, 
such  mental  or  physical  defect  being  of  the  nature  which  may 
affect  the  ability  of  the  alien  to  earn  a  living" ;  "women  and  girls 
coming  into  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution  or 
any  other  immoral  purpose." 

A  Division  of  Distribution  in  the  Bureau  of  Immigration  was 
authorized. 

Steamship  companies  were  required  to  furnish  lists  of  outgoing 
passengers. 

The  Immigration  Commission  was  created. 

The  President  was  empowered  to  call,  at  his  discretion,  an 
international  conference,  or  to  send  commissioners  to  any  foreign 
country  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  any  matter  relating  to 
immigration  by  international  agreement. 

The  President  was  also  empowered  to  revoke  the  passports  of 
aliens  when  it  should  appear  that  such  passports  were  use.d  by 
the  holders  to  enter  United  States  territory  "to  the  detriment 
of  labor  conditions  therein." 

A  section  was  added  to  the  act  of  1882  for  the  regulation  of 
steerage  conditions ;  to  go  into  effect  in  1909. 

1910  The  section  of  the  act  of  1910  relating  to  prostitution 
was  strengthened  by  provision  for  the  punishment  and  deporta- 
tion of  aliens  who  in  any  way  profit  from  the  proceeds  of 
prostitution.  This  was  followed  by  the  interstate  law  prohibiting 
the  transportation  of  persons  from  one  state  to  another  for 
purposes  of  prostitution. 

1913  A  bill  providing  for  a  literacy  test  passed  both  houses 
but  was  vetoed  by  President  Taft. 

1915  A  similar  bill  was  passed  and  vetoed  by  President 
Wilson. 


AFFIRMATIVE  DISCUSSION 

North  American  Review.  195:94-102.    January,  1912 

Future   of   American    Ideals.     Prescott   F.    Hall 

This  movement  of  peoples  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New 
is  on  a  scale  unprecedented  in  history,  and  its  effects  cannot  fail 
to  be  profound  and  far-reaching.  What  will  they  be? 

Americans  have  hitherto  paid  very  little  attention  to  this 
question  :  first,  because  they  have  not  considered  the  difference 
between  hostile  and  peaceful  invasions  in  history;  and  second,  . 
'because  they  fail  to  observe  that  recent  immigration  is  of  an 
entirely  different  kind  from  that  which  our  fathers  knew.  Tb« — 
earlier  immigration  having  been  of  kindred  races  and  having 
produced  no  profound  changes,  our  people  became  used  to  the 
phenomenon  and  took  it  as  a  matter  of  course.  At  the  present 
time,  most  of  us  consider  that  the  movement  now  going  on  is 
similar  to  that  which  has  been,  and  anticipate  results  no  different 
from  those  previously  observed. 

If  the  million  people  coming  every  year  came  not  as  peaceful 
travelers,  but  as  an  invading  hostile  army,  public  opinion  would 
be  very  different  to  what  it  is ;  and  yet  history  shows  that  it 
has  usually  been  the  peaceful  migrations  and  not  the  conquering 
armies  which  have  undermined  and  changed  the  institutions  of 
peoples.  To  take  the  classical  error  on  this  subject,  we  have 
been  told  repeatedly  that,  on  the  one  hand,  it  was  the  conquering 
Goths  and  Vandals,  and  on  the  other  hand,  their  own  vice'  and 
luxury,  which  cost  the  Romans  their  empire.  The  real  cause  of 
the  fall  of  Rome  was  neither  of  these  things.  It  was  the  con- 
stant infiltration  into  Roman  citizenship  of  large  numbers  of 
"barbarians" — that  is,  of  races  alien  in  instincts  and  habits  of 
thought  and  action  to  the  races  which  had  built  up  the  Roman 
Empire. 

The  "barbarians"  of  the  present  time,  however,  do  not  come 
from  the  plateaus  of  central  Asia  or  from  the  jungles  of  Africa; 
they  are  the  defective  and  delinquent  classes  of  Europe— the 


70  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

individuals  who  have  not  been  able  to  keep  the  pace  at  home 
and  have  fallen  into  the  lower  strata  of  its  civilization. 

Formerly,  America  was  a  hard  place  to  get  to,  and  a  hard 
life  awaited  those  who  came,  although  the  free  and  fertile  land 
offered  rich  prizes  to  those  with  the  energy  to  grasp  them. 
Today,  the  steamship  agent  is  in  every  little  town  in  Europe; 
fast  steamers  can  bring  thousands  in  a  few  days,  and  wages, 
often  indeed  not  enough  for  an  American  to  live  decently  on, 
but  large  in  the  eyes  of  the  poor  European  peasants,  await  the 
immigrant  on  landing.  There  isf  moreover— abundant—testimony 
to  the  fact  that  much  of  the  present  immigration  is  not  even  a 
normal  flow  of  population,  but  is  artificially  stimulated  in  every 
possible  way  by  the  transportation  companies  which  have  many 
millions  invested  in  the  traffic. 

Those  who  believe  that  we  can  assimilate  all  the  aliens  who 
may  come  usually  qualify  their  belief  by  saying  that,  although 
we  may  not  succeed  entirely  with  the  parents,  we  can  succeed 
with  the  children,  and  that  the  salvation  of  the  situation  is  the 
public  school.  They  also  point  out  that  many  immigrants  have 
had  little  opportunity  for  improvement  in  their  own  countries 
and  may  develop  rapidly  in  a  new  environment.  Now  just  as  the 
Latin  races  make  a  fetish  of  the  State,  we  Americans  are  apt 
to  make  a  fetish  of  education,  and  we  constantly  fail  to  dis- 
criminate between  education  as  the  molding  of  character  and 
education  as  the  imparting  of  information.  Far  the  larger 
part  of  a  child's  education  comes  from  his  home  and  his  com- 
panions, rather  than  from  his  schooling.  Emulation  and  imi- 
tation are  the  two  mainsprings  of  his  growth.  W£_should_jieyer 
forget  the  somewhat  hackneyed  truth  that  education,  in  general, 
brings  out  what  is  in  the  man,  be  it  good  or  bad,  and  seldom 
puts  much  there  which  was  not  there  before.  For  this  reason 
it  is  very  questionable  whether  the  small  amount  of  schooling 
the  children  of  most  aliens  receive  plays  a  very  large  part  in 
the  total  of  influences  brought  to  bear  upon  them;  and  it  is 
still  more  debatable  whether  it  appreciably  alters  their  charac- 
ters, or  does  anything  more  than  bring  out  their  inherited 
instincts  and  tendencies.  Undoubtedly  immigrant  children 
crowd  our  schools  because  it  aids  them  in  the  struggle  for 
existence,  and  is  usually  paid  for  by  some  one  else.  Undoubt- 
edly, also,  many  of  them  obtain  high  marks  and  show  consid- 
erable capacity  for  storing  up  information. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  71 

Nevertheless,  as  has  been  said,  schooling  is  but  a  small  part 
of  the  influences  to  which  the  child  is  subject,  and  the  tendency 
of  recent  immigrants  to  crowd  into  the  cities  and  to  settle  in 
racial  groups  means  that  a  very  large  part  of  the  influences 
affecting  the  children  will  be  those  of  their  neighbors  and  co- 
workers  of  the  same  race.  As  in  John  Bunyan's  parable,  a 
small  quantity  of  oil  poured  secretly  and  steadily  upon  a  fire 
will  cause  it  to  withstand  a  large  quantity  of  water  poured 
upon  it  from  all  directions.  Moreover,  to  a  great  extent  this 
water  of  public-school  education  will  fail  to  quench  hereditary 
passions,  because  the  latter  are  so  strong  that  the  former  will 
be  vaporized,  so  to  speak,  and  pass  off  without  closely  touching 
them.  Dr.  Gustav  LeBon,  in  his  "Political  Psychology,"  has 
thus  expressed  this  phase  of  the  matter: 

Education  merely  sums  up  the  results  of  a  civilization;  the  institutions 
and  the  beliefs  representing  the  needs  of  such  civilization.  If,  then,  a 
civilization  does  not  harmonize  with  the  ideas  and  sentiments  of  a  people, 
the  education  setting  forth  this  civilization  will  remain  without  effect  upon 
it;  in  the  same  way  that  institutions  corresponding  to  certain  needs  will  not 
correspond  to  different  needs. 

The  result  in  such  a  case  will  be,  not  a  true  amalgamation  \ 
of  races,  but  a  mixture  of  peoples  as  in  Austria-Hungary,  living  \ 
side  by  side,  sharing  certain  interests  in  common,  but  never  I 
wholly  merging  into  a  general  national  type. 

_£an  we  not  already  see  certain  effects  of  the  newer  immigra- 
tion   upon    our    social    life?      In    many    places    the    Continental 
Sunday,    with   its   games    and   sports,   its   theatrical   and   musical 
performances,    and    its    open    bars,    is    taking    the    place    of    the 
Puritan  Sabbath.     In  some  of  our  factory  towns  there  are  many 
operatives  living  under  the  system  of  free  marriage,  and  in  at 
least    one    place    the    method    of    building    tenements    has    been 
altered  to  correspond  to  this  system.     Professor  Commons  notes    i 
that  we  have  already  begun  to  despotize  our  institutions  in  order    \ 
to  deal  with  large  masses  of  citizens  not  capable  of  intelligently    j 
supporting  representative  government. 

We  have  to  contend  not  only  with  alien  habits  and  ideals, 
and  with  the  fact  that  these  differences  cannot  be  effaced  by 
education  in  one  or  even  two  generations,  but  also  with  the 
fact  that  we  are  getting  a  great  many  immigrants  who  are  below 
the.  mental,  moral,  and  physical  average  of  both  our  country  and 
their  own.  A  recent  writer  in  a  leading  German  review  has  said : 


72  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

"The  immigration  of  the  last  decade  has  increased  the  number  » 
of  hands,  but  not  the  number  of  heads,  in  the  United  States." 
While  this  may  be  an  extreme  statement,  there  is  the  unanimous 
testimony  of  the  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  the 
Commissioner  at  the  Port  of  New  York,  and  the  Immigration 
Commission,  which  has  recently  spent  several  years  studying  the 
matter,  to  the  fact  that  for  one  immigrant  whose  defects  are  so 
marked  as  to  put  him  in  the  classes  excluded  by  law  there  are 
hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  who  are  below  the  average  of  our 
people,  and  who,  as  George  William  Curtis  put  it,  are  "watering 

7"  nation's  life  blood." 
Recent  investigations  in  eugenics  show  that  heredity  is  a  | 
much  more  important  factor  than  environment  as  regards  social 
conditions — in  fact,  that  in  most  cases  heredity  is  what  makes 
the  environment.  This  is  confirmed  by  the  practice  of  the 
insurance  companies  which  attach  the  chief  importance  to  the 
hereditary  characteristics  of  an  individual.  If  this  position  is 
sound,  education  and  distribution  can  only  palliate  the  evils  and 
delay  fundamental  changes.  As  Professor  Karl  Pearson  says: 
"You  cannot  change  the  leopard's  spots,  and  you  cannot  change 
bad  stock  to  good;  you  may  dilute  it,  possibly  spread  it  over  a 
large  area,  spoiling  good  stock,  but  until  it  ceases  to  multiply  it 
will  not  cease  to  be." 

Intelligent  foreigners,  like  Bourget,  H.  G.  Wells,  and  LeBon, 
are  continually  surprised  that  Americans  pay  so  little  regard  to  . 
these  matters.     Already  our  neighbor  to  the  north  has  become  I 
much  more  strict  as  to  those  she  admits  than  we  are ;  and,  in   ' 
fact,  the  Dominion  is  now   rejecting  at  the  border  many  whom 
:    we  have  admitted. 


Century.  87:615-22.      February,    1914 

Racial  Consequences  of  Immigration.     Edward  A.  Ross 

In  the  six  or  seven  hundred  thousand  strangers  that  yearly 
join  themselves  to  us  for  good  and  all,  there  are  to  be  found,  of 
course,  every  talent  and  every  beauty.  Out  of  the  steerage 
come  persons  as  fine  and  noble  as  any  who  have  trodden  Ameri- 
can soil.  Any  adverse  characterization  of  an  immigrant  stream 
implies,  then,  only  that  the  trait  is  relatively  frequent,  not  that 
it  is  general. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  73 

In  this  sense  it  is  fair  to  say  that  the  blood  now  being 
injected  into  the  veins  of  our  people  is  "sub-common."  To  one 
accustomed  to  the  aspect  of  the  normal  American  population, 
the  Caliban  type  shows  up  with  a  frequency  that  is  startling. 
Observe  immigrants  not  as  they  come  travel-wan  up  the  gang- 
plank, nor  as  they  issue  toil-begrimed  from  pit's  mouth  or  mill 
gate,  but  in  their  gatherings,  washed,  combed,  and  in  their  Sun- 
day best.  You  are  struck  by  the  fact  that  from  10  to  20  per 
cent  are  hirsute,  low-browed,  big-faced  persons  of  obviously  low 
mentality.  Not  that  they  suggest  evil.  They  simply  look  out 
of  place  in  black  clothes  and  stiff  collar,  since  clearly  they  belong 
in  skins,  in  wattled  huts  at  the  close  of  the  great  ice  age.  These 
oxlike  men  are  descendants  of  those  who  always  stayed  behind. 
Those  in  whom  the  soul  burns  with  the  dull,  smoky  flame  of 
the  pine-knot  stuck  to  the  soil,  and  are  now  thick  in  the  sluice- 
ways of  immigration.  Those  in  whom  it  burns  with  a  clear, 
luminous  flame  have  been  attracted  to  the  cities  of  the  home  land 
and,  having  prospects,  have  no  motive  to  submit  themselves  to 
the  hardships  of  the  steerage. 

To  the  practised  eye,  the  physiognomy  of  certain  groups  un- 
mistakably proclaims  inferiority  of. type.  I  have  seen  gatherings 
of  the  foreign-born  in  which  narrow  and  sloping  foreheads  were 
the  rule.  The  shortness  and  smallness  of  the  crania  were  very 
noticeable.  There  was  much  facial  asymmetry.  Among  the 
women,  beauty,  aside  from  the  fleeting  epidermal  bloom  of  girl- 
hood, was  quite  lacking.  In  every  face  there  was  something 
wrong — lips  thick,  mouth  coarse,  upper  lip  too  long,  cheekbones 
ton  high,  chin  poorly  formed,  the  bridge  of  the  nose  hollowed, 
the  base  of  the  nose  tilted,  or  else  the  whole  face  prognathous. 
There  were  so  many  sugar-loaf  heads,  moon-faces,  slit  mouths, 
lantern-jaws,  and  goose-bill  noses  that  one  might  imagine  a 
malicious  jinn  had  amused  himself  by  casting  human  beings  in 
a  set  of  skew-molds  discarded  by  the  Creator. 

Our  captains  of  industry  give  a  crowbar  to  the  immigrant 
with  a  number  nine  face  on  a  number  six  head,  make  a  dividend 
out  of  him,  and  imagine  that  is  the  end  of  the  matter.  They 
overlook  that  this  man  will  beget  children  in  his  image, — two 
or  three  times  as  many  as  the  American, — and  that  these  children 
will  in  turn  beget  children.  They  chuckle  at  having  opened  an 
inexhaustible  store  of  cheap  tools  and,  lo !  the  American  people 
is  being  altered  for  all  time  by  these  tools.  Once  before  captains 


74  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

of  industry  took  a  hand  in  making  this  people.  Colonial  planters 
imported  Africans  to  hoe  in  the  sun,  to  "develop"  the  tobacco, 
indigo,  and  rice  plantations.  Then,  as  now,  business-minded  men 
met  with  contempt  the  protests  of  a  few  idealists  against  their 
way  of  "building  up  the  country." 

Those  promoters  of  prosperity  are  dust,  but  they  bequeathed 
a  situation  which  in  four  years  wiped  out  more  wealth  than  two 
hundred  years  of  slavery  had  built  up,  and  which  presents  today 
the  one  unsolvable  problem  in  this  country.  Without  likening 
immigrants  to  negroes,  one  may  point  out  how  the  latter-day 
employer  resembles  the  old-time  planter  in  his  blindness  to  the 
effects  of  his  labor  policy  upon  the  blood  of  the  nation. 

It  is  reasonable  to  expect  an  early  falling  off  in  the  frequency 
of  good  looks  in  the  American  people.  It  is  unthinkable  that 
so  many  persons  with  crooked  faces,  coarse  mouths,  bad  noses, 
heavy  jaws,  and  low  foreheads  can  mingle  their  heredity  with 
ours  without  making  personal  beauty  yet  more  rare  among  us 
than  it  actually  is.  So  much  ugliness  is  at  last  bound  to  work 
to  the  surface.  One  ought  to  see  the  horror  on  the  face  of  a 
fine-looking  Italian  or  Hungarian  consul  when  one  asks  him 
innocently,  "Is  the  physiognomy  of  these  immigrants  typical  of 
your  people?"  That  the  new  immigrants  are  inferior  in  looks 
to  the  old  immigrants  may  be  seen  by  comparing1,  in  a  Labor- 
day  parade,  the  faces  of  the  cigar-makers  and  the  garment- 
workers  with  those  of  the  teamsters,  piano-movers,  and  steam- 
fitters. 

Although  the  Slavs  stand  up  well,  our  southern  Europeans 
run  to  low  stature.  A  gang  of  Italian  navvies  filing  along  the 
street  present,  by  their  dwarfishness,  a  curious  contrast  to  other 
people.  The  Portuguese,  the  Greeks,  and  Syrians  are,  from  our 
point  of  view,  undersized.  The  Hebrew  immigrants  are  very 
poor  in  physique.  The  average  of  Hebrew  women  in  New  York 
is  just  over  five  feet,  and  the  young  women  in  the  garment 
factories,  although  well  developed,  appear  to  be  no  taller  than 
native  girls  of  thirteen. 

That  the  Mediterranean  peoples  are  morally  below  the  races 
of  northern  Europe  is  as  certain  as  any  social  fact.  Even  when 
they  were  dirty,  ferocious  barbarians,  these  bjonds_were  truth- 
tellers^  Be  it  pride  or  awkwardness  or  lack  of  imagination  or 
fair-play  sense,  something  has  held  them  back  from  the  nimble 
lying  of  the  southern  races.  Immigration  officials  find  that  the 


ON   IMMIGRATION  75 

different  peoples  are  as  day  and  night  in  point  of  veracity,  and 
report  vast  trouble  in  extracting  the  truth  from  certain  brunnette 
nationalities. 

Some  champions  of  immigration  have  become  broad-minded 
enough  to  think  small  of  the  cardinal  virtues.  The  Syrians,  on 
Boston  testimony,  took  "great  pains  to  cheat  the  charitable 
societies"  and  are  "extremely  untrustworthy  and  unreliable." 
Their  defender,  however,  after  admitting  their  untruthfulness, 
explains  that  their  lying  is  altruistic.  If,  at  the  fork  of  a  road, 
you  ask  a  Syrian  your  way,  he  will,  in  sheer  transport  of  sym- 
pathy, study  you  to  discover  what  answer  will  most  please  you. 
"The  Anglo-Saxon  variety  of  truthfulness,"  she  adds,  "is  not  a 
Syrian  characteristic" ;  but,  ''if  truthfulness  includes  loyalty, 
ready  self-denial  to  promote  a  cause  that  seems  right,  the  Syrian 
is  to  that  extent  truthful."  Quoting  a  Syrian's  admission  that 
his  fellow-merchants  pay  their  debts  for  their  credit's  sake,  but 
will  cheat  the  customer,  she  comments,  "This,  however,  does  not 
seem  to  be  exclusively  a  Syrian  vice."  To  such  paltering  does  a 
sickly  sentimentality  lead. 

In  respect  to  the  value  it  contains,  a  stream  of  immigrants 
may  be  representative,  superrepresentative,  or  subrepresentative 
of  the  home  people.  When  it  is  a  fair  sample,  it  is  representa- 
tive ;  when  it  is  richer  in  wheat  and  poorer  in  chaff,  it  is  super- 
representative  ;  when  the  reverse  is  the  case,  it  is  subrepresenta- 
tive. What  counts  here,  of  course,  is  not  the  value  the  immi- 
grants may  have  acquired  by  education  or  experience,  but  that 
fundamental  worth  which  does  not  depend  on  opportunity,  and 
which  may  be  transmitted  to  one's  descendants.  Now,  in  the 
present  state  of  our  knowledge,  it  is  perhaps  risky  to  make  a 
value  comparison  between  the  races  which  contributed  the  old 
immigration  and  those  which  are  supplying  the  new  immigration. 
Though  backward,  the  latter  may  contain  as  good  stuff.  But  it 
is  fair  to  assume  that  a  superrepresentative  immigration  from 
one  stock  is  worth  more  to  us  than  a  subrepresentative  immi- 
gration from  another  stock,  and  that  an  influx  which  subrepre- 
sents  a  European  people  will  thin  the  blood  of  the  American 
people. 

Many    things    have    decided    whether    Europe    should    send 
America  cream  or  skimmed  milk.     Religious  or  political  oppres 
sion  is  apt  to  drive  out  the  better  elements.     Racial   oppression 
cannot  be  evaded  by  mere  conformity ;  hence  the  emigration  it 


*nd  i 
es-  I 
ion  \ 


76  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

sets  up  is  apt  to  be  representative.     An  unsubdued  and  perilous 
land  attracts  the   more  bold  and  enterprising.    -Thf 


homesteads  include  men  of  better  stuff  than  the  job-seekers 
attracted  by  high  wages  for  unskilled  labor.  Only  economic 
motives  set  in  motion  the  sub-common  people,  but  even  in  an 
economic  emigration  the  early  stage  brings  more  people  of  initi- 
ative than  the  later.  The  deeper  and  smoother  the  channels  of 
migration,  the  lower  the  stratum  they  can  tap. 

It  is  not  easy  to  value  the  early  elements  that  were  wrought 
into  the  American  people.  Often  a  stream  of  immigration  that 
started  with  the  best  drained  from  the  lower  levels  after  it  had 
worn  itself  a  bed.  It  is  therefore  only  in  a  broad  way  that  I 
venture  to  classify  the  principal  colonial  migrations  as  follows  : 

Superrepresentative  :  English  Pilgrims,  Puritans,  Quakers, 
Catholics,  Scotch  Covenanters,  French  Huguenots,  German 
sectaries. 

Representative  :  English  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  the  Caro- 
linas,  Scotch-Irish,  Scotch  Highlanders,  Dutch,  and  Swedes. 

Subrepresentative  :  English  of  early  Georgia,  transported 
English,  eighteenth-century  Germans. 

In  our  national  period  the  Germans  of  1848  stand  out  as  a 
superrepresentative  flow.  The  Irish  stream  has  been  representa- 
tive, as  was  also  the  early  German  migration.  The  German 
inflow  since  1870  has  brought  us  very  few  of  the  elite  of  their 
people,  and  I  have  already  given  reasons  for  believing  'that  the 
Scandinavian  stream  is  not  altogether  representative.  Our  immi- 
gration from  Great  Britain  has  distinctly  fallen  off  in  grade  since 
the  chances  in  America  came  to  be  less  attractive  than  those  in 
the  British  Empire.  However,  no  less  an  authority  than  Sir 
Richard  Cartwright  thinks  that  "between  1866  and  1896  one- 
third  at  least  of  the  whole  male  adult  population  of  Canada 
between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  forty  found  their  way  to  the 
United  States,"  and  this  "included  an  immense  percentage  of 
the  most  intelligent  and  adventurous."  Today  we  reciprocate  by 
sending  western  farmers  with  capital  into  the  Canadian  North- 
west. Our  loss  has  amounted  to  as  many  as  100,000  ina^jjingle 
year. 

Oppression  is  now  out  of  fashion  over  most  of  Europe,  and 
our  public  lands  are  gone.  Economic  motives  more  and  more 
bring  us  immigrants,  and  such  motives  will  not  uproot  the 
educated,  the  propertied,  the  established,  the  well  connected. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  77 

The  children  of  success  are  not  migrating,  which  means  that 
we  get  few  scions  from  families  of  proved  capacity.  Europe 
retains  most  of  her  brains,  but  sends  multitudes  of  the  common 
and  the  sub-common.  There  is  little  sign  of  an  intellectual 
element  among  the  Magyars,  Russians,  southern  Slavs,  Italians, 
Greeks,  or  Portuguese.  This  does  not  hold,  however,  for  cur- 
rents created  by  race  discrimination  or  oppression.  The  Arme- 
nian, Syrian,  Finnish,  and  Russo-Hebrew  streams  seem  repre- 
sentative, and  the  first  wave  of  Hebrews  out  of  Russia  in  the 
eighties  was  superior.  The  Slovaks,  German  Poles,  Lithuanians, 
Esthonians,  and  other  restive  subject  groups  probably  send  us  a 
fair  sample  of  their  quality. 

American  Economic  Review.    3:  sup.  5-19,  March,  1913 
Population   or    Prosperity.     Frank   A.   Fetter 

Students  of  American  economic  conditions  are  familiar  with 
the  series  of  shaded  charts  in  the  census  volumes  on  population 
showing  by  decades  the  extension  of  the  settled  area  since  1790 
and  its  gradually  increasing  density.  As  one  studies  the  earlier 
of  these  cha-rts  one  can  see  how  the  blank  spaces  on  the  maps 
of  that  day  must  have  aroused  the  imagination  and  the  hopes 
of  men.  There  lay  whole  empires  of  land  almost  untenanted  and 
calling  to  be  used.  Decade  by  decade  for  a  hundred  years  the 
frontier  extended  at  a  hardly  slackening  rate  while  the  density 
increased  on  the  settled  area,  until  abruptly,  about  1890,  the 
process  ended  or  changed  its  nature.  The  chart  for  1900  shows 
little  alteration  in  its  outline  from  that  for  a  decade  earlier. 
The  increase  of  population  in  the  decade  had  been  thirteen 
millions,  but  of  these,  eight  millions  had  been  added  to  the  urban 
and  only  five  millions  to  the  rural  population.  In  the  following 
decade,  from  1900  to  1910,  the  increase  was  sixteen  millions,  of 
which  twelve  millions  were  added  to  the  urban  and  but  four 
millions  to  the  rural  population.  Dividing  our  national  history 
since  1790  into  four  periods,  each  of  thirty  years,  it  is  seen  that 
in  the  first  the  density  per  mile  increased  .7  of  an  inhabitant,  in 
the  second  2.4  inhabitants,  in  the  third  9,  and  in  the  fourth  14. 
Thus  the  increase  in  the  number  per  square  mile  has  gone  on 
at  an  accelerating  rate,  and  was  twenty  times  as  fast  in  the  last 
as  in  the  first  period.  As  an  index  of  the  demands  which 


78  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

increasing  population  makes  upon  resources,  these  figures  are 
more  truly  significant  than  are  the  absolute  numbers  of  people 
or  the  percentage  of  increase  by  decades ;  for  they  show  how 
many  additional  inhabitants  must  find  employment,  materials,  and 
food  on  the  available  area.  This  means  greater  intensiveness  of 
utilization.  The  cumulative  additions  are  now  made  on  an  area 
nearing,  or  already  past,  the  point  of  maximum  advantage  to 
the  masses  of  the  nation. 

By  1890  the  habitable  agricultural  area  of  the  United  States 
had  not  been  completely  occupied,  but  the  frontier  of  fertile  lands 
ready  for  man's  use  had  at  length  been  all  but  attained.  Sud- 
denly was  unmasked  the  true  character  of  those  great,  uncolored 
areas  shown  on  the  map.  Deserts  they  are,  for  the  most  part, 
deserts  they  must  ever  remain.  Nature  had  no  more  free  gifts 
to  distribute  to  the  prodigal  children  of  America.  She  would 
grant  still  some  new  arable  fields,  but  only  for  the  price  of  toil 
and  patient  art.  Our  increasing  population  must  thenceforth 
find  its  livelihood  in  the  more  intensive  cultivation  of  the  settled 
areas.  We  had  been  rapidly  losing  those  economic  advantages 
which  had  distinguished  us  from  the  older,  more  densely  settled 
countries.  A  new  economic  situation  confronted  our  people. 

Economic  results  did  not  long  delay  their  appearance.  In  the 
nineties  of  the  last  century  the  wave  of  popular  prosperity  at 
length  attained  its  crest.  Some  great  forces  lifting  wages 
throughout  Christendom  despite  any  counteracting  effects  from 
increasing  population  seem  at  last  to  have  spent  themselves. 
Cheap  food  from  America  had  been  a  boon  to  the  European 
workman  as  well  as  to  the  American.  The  year  1896  marked 
the  lowest  American  prices  in  recent  decades  for  food  and  for 
farm  products.  The  year  1898  was  that  of  maximum  export 
of  foodstuffs  from  the  United  States.  Since  1896  food  and 
other  farm  products  have  almost  steadily  advanced  in  price  at  a 
more  rapid  rate  than  general  prices;  since  1898  exports  of 
foodstuffs  from  the  United  States  have  less  steadily,  but  none 
the  less  surelv,  declined.  In  the  past  twenty  years  the  general 
progress  in  science  and  the  technical  arts  has  been  phenomenal. 
It  is  the  accepted  economic  belief  that  the  trend  and  effect  of 
such  changes  is  favorable  to  the  real  wages  of  labor.  The  last 
twenty  years,  therefore,  should  have  been  a  period  of  rapidly 
rising  wages  had  not  this  technical  progress  been  offset  by 
some  powerful  opposing  forces.  Why  have  real  wages  risen  so 


ON   IMMIGRATION  79 

slowly  or  even  fallen?  In  part  no  doubt  the  explanation  may  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  when  the  general  scale  of  prices  is  rising 
wages  move  more  tardily.  In  large  part  the  explanation  must 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  we  have  passed  the  point  of  diminishing 
returns  in  the  relation  of  our  population  to  our  resources.  The 
growth  of  population  is  serving  to  neutralize  for  the  masses  of 
the  people  the  gains  of  technical  progress.  It  is  high  time  to 
revise  the  optimistic  American  doctrine  of  population. 

The  hope  is  ever  with  us  that  improvements  in  agricultural 
methods  will  offset  the  influence  of  the  increase  of  population. 
We  rightly  speak  of  the  wonders  of  the  new  agriculture ;  but 
these  improvements  fast  crowding  upon  each  other  in  the  past 
two  decades  have  not  even  kept  the  cost  of  food  from  increasing 
in  terms  of  the  common  man's  wage.  Shall  we  then  base  an 
economic  policy  on  the  assumption  of  much  greater  improvements 
which  as  yet  are  only  in  the  realm  of  imagination?  Undoubtedly 
the  development  of  water  power  will  retard  the  trend  toward 
higher  prices  of  coal ;  forestry  will  eventually  grow  lumber 
enough  to  meet  the  greatly  curtailed  demand  at  higher  prices; 
but,  given  a  population  steadily  increasing  at  anything  like 
the  present  rate,  and  real  wages  in  America  must  decrease  in 
terms  of  food,  clothing  and  fuel,  and  all  the  commodities  depend- 
ent on  wood,  iron,  copper,  and  other  primary  materials.  The 
steady  increase  alone  of  population  will  offset  the  popular 
benefits  of  the  new  miracles  of  industrial  progress. 

In  the  decade  ending  1910,  but  for  immigration,  the  rate  of 
increase  of  the  total  population  would  have  been  much  less 
instead  of  somewhat  greater  than  that  of  the  preceding  decade. 
But  in  1910  there  were  over  three  million  more  foreign-born 
persons  in  the  country  than  were  here  ten  years  earlier.  One- 
fifth  of.  the  increase  in  population  consisted  in  foreign-born,  and 
another  fifth  of  their  children  born  in  America. 

The  current  objections  to  immigration  are  mainly  based  on 
the  alleged  evil  effects  to  the  political,  social,  and  moral  standards 
of  the  community.  It  is  often  asserted  that  present  immigration 
is  inferior  in  racial  quality  to  that  of  the  past.  Whatever  be  the 
truth  and  error  mingled  in  these  views,  we  are  not  now  dis- 
cussing them.  Our  view  is  wholly  impersonal  and  without  race 
prejudice.  If  the  present  immigration  were  all  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  were  able  to  speak,  read  and  write  English,  and  had 
the  same  political  sentiments  and  capacities  as  the  earlier  popu- 


8o  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

lation,  the  validity  of  our  present  conclusions  would  be  unaffected. 

When  our  policy  of  unrestricted  immigration  is  thus  opposed 
to  the  interests  of  the  mass  of  the  people,  its  continuation  in  a 
democracy  where  universal  manhood  suffrage  prevails,  is  possible 
only  because  of  a  remarkable  complexity  of  ideas,  sentiments, 
and  interests,  neutralizing  each  other  and  paralyzing  action.  The 
American  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  open  door  to  the  oppressed 
of  all  lands  is  a  part  of  our  national  heritage.  The  wish  to 
share  with  others  the  blessings  of  freedom  and  of  economic 
plenty  is  the  product  of  many  generations  of  American  experi- 
ence. The  open  door  policy  had  partly  a  political  basis:  a 
growing  population  in  a  young  and  sparsely  settled  country  gave 
greater  security  on  the  frontier  of  settlement  and  greater 
strength  against  foreign  enemies.  The  policy  had,  however, 
mainly  an  economic  basis:  land  was  here  a  free  good  on  the 
margin  of  a  vast  frontier.  Most  citizens  benefited  by  a  growing 
population.  Let  it  not  be  accounted  cynicism  to  recognize  in  this 
national  self-interest  the  source  of  a  generous  sentiment  toward 
the  incoming  stranger.  That  sentiment,  truly  generous,  now 
lingers  after  its  real  cause  has  disappeared.  It  impels  to  an 
unthinking  liberality  to  the  alien  while  sacrificing  the  heritage 
of  the  workers  of  America ;  it  makes  the  citizen  with  humane 
ideals  the  misguided  ally  of  commercial  greed.  The  open  door 
policy  is  vain  to  relieve  the  condition  of  the  masses  of  other 
lands.  Emigration  from  overcrowded  countries,  with  the  rarest 
exceptions,  leaves  no  permanent  gaps.  Natural  increase  quickly 
fills  the  ranks  of  an  impoverished  peasantry.  If  America  with 
futile  hospitality  continues  to  welcome  great  numbers  from 
countries  with  low  standards  of  living,  she  can  but  reduce  the 
level  of  her  own  prosperity  while  affording  no  permanent  relief 
to  the  overcrowded  lands.  Nations  under  bad  governments  must 
find  relief  through  the  reform  of  their  own  political  conditions. 
Lands  whose  people  are  in  economic  misery  must  improve  their 
own  industrial  organization,  elevate  their  standards  of  living, 
and  limit  their  numbers.  If  they  go  on  breeding  multitudes 
which  find  an  unhindered  outlet  in  continuous  migration  to  more 
fortunate  lands,  they  can  at  last  but  drag  others  down  to  their 
own  unhappy  economic  level. 

The  pride  of  immigrants  and  of  their  children,  sometimes  to 
the  second  and  third  generations,  is  another  strong  force  oppos- 
ing restriction.  Immigrants,  having  become  citizens,  are  proud 


ON   IMMIGRATION  81 

of  the  race  of  their  origin,  and  resent  restriction  as  a  reflection 
upon  themselves  and  their  people.  One  may  admire  the  loyalty 
and  idealism  here  manifested,  while  regretting  that  these  senti- 
ments and  arguments  serve  to  distract  attention  from  the  real 
problem  to  minor  and  irrelevant  incidents. 

North  American  Review.    192 :  56-67.  July,  1910 

National  Eugenics  in  Relation  to  Immigration. 

Robert  DeC.  Ward 

\jJ 

How  far  do  our  present  immigration  laws  enable  us  to  keep  v\  y< 
out  those  who  are  physically,  mentally  and  morally  undesirable 
for   parenthood;    whose   coming  here    will   tend    to   produce   an 
inferior  rather  than  a  superior  American  race;  who  are  eugen 
ically  unfit  for  race  culture?     We  in  the  United  States  have  an    * 
opportunity    which    is    unique    in    history    for    the    practice    of 
eugenic   principles.      Our  Country «jiaa^  founded    and    deyeloned    , 
bv  picked  men  and  ^vyomen.     And  to-day,  by  selecting  our  im- 
migrants  through   proper   immigration   legislation,    we   have    the 
power  to   pick  out  the  best   specimens   of   each    race  to  be  the 
parents   of   our    future  citizens.      But    we   have   left   the   choice 
almost    altogether    to    the    selfish    interests    which    do    not   care 
whether    we    want   the    immigrants   they   bring,    or  whether   the 
immigrants  will  be  the  better  for  coming.     Steamship  agents  and 
brokers  all  over  Europe  and   western  Asia  are  today  deciding   • 
for  us  the  character  of  the  American  race  of  the  future. 

It  is  no  argument  against  practising  eugenic  ideas  in  the 
selection  of  our  alien  immigrants  to  say  that  our  New  England 
country  towns  are  full  of  hopelessly  degenerate  native  Ameri- 
cans who  are  inferior,  mentally,  morally  and  physically,  to  the 
"sturdy  peasants  of  Europe/'  It  will  not  help  to  reduce  the 
number  of  our  native  degenerates  if  we  admit  alien  degenerates. 
National  eugenics  means  the  prevention  of  the  breeding  of  the 
unfit  native,  no  less  than  the  prevention  of  the  admission, 
and  of  the  breeding  after  admission,  of  the  unfit  alien. 

Should  we  not  exercise  the  same  care  in  admitting  human 
beings  as  we  exercise  in  relation  to  animals  or  insect  pests  or 
disease  germs?  Yet  it  is  true  that  we  have  actually  been  taking 
more  care  in  the  selection,  and  in  the  examination  for  soundness 
and  for  health,  of  a  Hereford  bull  or  a  Southdown  ewe,  imported 


82  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

for  the  improvement  of  our  cattle  and  sheep,  than  we  have 
taken  in  the  selection  of  the  alien  men  and  women  who  are 
coming  here  to  be  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  future  American 
children.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  prohibit  the  importation  of 
cattle  from  a  foreign  country  where  the  foot  and  mouth  disease 
is  prevalent.  It  is  only  in  very  extreme  cases  that  we  have  ever 
taken  such  a  step  in  the  case  of  the  importation  of  aliens,  yet 
there  are  certain  parts  of  Europe  from  which  it  would  be  better 
for  the  American  race  if  no  aliens  at  all  were  admitted.  Our 
present  laws  are  intended  to  exclude  some  twenty  or  more 
classes  of  mentally,  physically,  morally  and  economically  undesir- 
able aliens.  The  list  is  formidable  and  seems  abundantly  suffi- 
cient to  accomplish  adequate  eugenic  selection.  But  careful  and 
unprejudiced  students  of  immigration  agree  that  these  laws  do 
not  keep  out  the  unfit  so  as  to  preserve  the  status  quo,  and 
certainly  do  not  promote  eugenic  improvement.  We  already 
have  an  army  of  not  less  than  150,000  feeble-minded  in  the 
United  States,  of  whom  only  a  very  small  percentage  are  in 
institutions,  the  rest  being  free  to  propagate  their  kind.  And 
of  those  in  institutions  the  large  proportion  are  there  only 
temporarily,  being  at  liberty  for  much  of  the  time  during  their 
reproductive  period.  Further,  there  are  over  150,000  insane  in 
the  institutions  of  this  country,  and  of  these  many  have  already 
left  offspring  to  perpetuate  their  insanity.  In  spite  of  these 
appalling  facts,  appalling  from  the  standpoint  of  mere  senti- 
ment and  of  mere  philanthropy,  doubly  appalling  from  the  stand- 
point of  eugenics,  we  have  been  admitting  alien  insane,  and 
alien  imbeciles,  and  alien  epileptics,  and  alien  habitual  criminals, 
partly  because  of  a  lax  enforcement  of  the  law  under  past 
administrations,  partly  because  the  law  is  incapable,  under  ex- 
isting conditions,  of  effective  enforcement.  Parenthood  on  the 
part  of  the  insane,  the  imbecile,  the  feeble-minded,  the  heredit- 
ary criminal,  and  those  afflicted  with  hereditary  disease,  is  a 
crime  against  the  future.  To  admit  such  persons  into  this 
country  is  no  less  a  crime  against  the  future. 

The  ideal  selection  of  our  immigrants,  from  the  eugenic  point 
of  view,  would  be  possible  only  if  we  could  have  a  fairly  com- 
plete family  history,  running  back  a  few  generations,  showing  the 
hereditary  tendencies  of  each  alien.  The  results  of  eugenic 
investigation  already  reached  have  given  us  enough  definite 


ON   IMMIGRATION  83 

knowledge  to  enable  us  to  exclude,  if  we  had  these  pedigrees, 
the  larger  number  of  aliens  who  would  themselves  be  undesirable, 
or  would  have  defective  or  delinquent  offspring.  This  ideal 
selection  is  obviously  impossible  to  carry  out. 

The  next  best  plan,  which  has  the  advantage  of  being  feasible, 
although  it  would  require  legislation  and  considerable  expenditure 
of  public  money  (yet  would  not  almost  any  expenditure,  even  on 
a  huge  scale,  be  a  wise  national  policy  in  so  important  a  matter?) 
would  be  to  insist  that  each  alien,  on  landing  here,  should  undergo 
a  very  thorough  mental  and  physical  examination  at  the  hands  of 
our  public  health  and  marine  hospital  service  surgeons.  These 
examinations  would  involve  a  stripping  to  the  skin  of  each  alien ; 
the  usual  physical  and  mental  examination ;  tests  for  syphilis  and 
similar  precautions.  Is  this  too  much  to  demand  when  the 
welfare  of  a  whole  new  race  is  concerned?  The  eugenist  is 
ready  with  his  answer;  he  says,  emphatically,  No.  We  cer- 
tainly ought  to  begin  at  once  to  segregate,  far  more  than  we 
now  do,  all  our  native  and  foreign-born  population  which  is 
unfit  for  parenthood.  They  must  be  prevented  from  breeding. 
But  the  biggest,  the  most  effective,  the  most  immediate  way  in 
which  we  can  further  national  eugenics  is  at  the  ports  where  this 
year  over  half  a  million  alien  immigrants  will  land.  Our  immi- 
gration officials  are  doing  all  in  their  power,  under  existing  con- 
ditions, to  select  our  immigrants.  Our  surgeons  are  doing  a 
wonderful  work,  under  tremendous  disadvantages,  in  trying  to 
detect  the  physical  and  mental  disabilities  which  by  law  debar 
the  aliens  who  have  them.  But  it  is  nothing  short  of  a  crime 
to  admit  people,  as  often  happens  in  a  rush  season,  at  the  rate 
of  3,000,  4,000  or  5.000  in  one  day.  On  April  n  last,  according 
to  press  reports,  7,931  aliens  were  landed  at  Ellis  Island.  We 
ought  to  limit  the  number  of  aliens  who  shall  be  landed  in  one 
day  to  a  certain  maximum  which  could  reasonably  well  be  care- 
fully examined.  We  have  a  perfect  right  to  do  that,  just  as  we 
have  a  perfect  right  to  prohibit  immigration  entirely.  The  steam- 
ship companies,  the  foreign  societies,  and  others  interested  in  one 
way  or  another  in  foreign  immigration,  would  vigorously  object. 
But  those  who  are  seriously  and  unselfishly  concerned  for  the 
future  of  this  race  would  welcome  such  a  move.  We  ought  to 
increase  the  number  of  the  surgeons  detailed  for  the  most 
important  duty  of  inspecting  arriving  aliens.  We  might  have  to 


84  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

enlarge  the  accommodations  at  our  immigration  stations.  But 
can  there  be  anything  more  vital  than  this  if  we  are  to  do  our 
duty  to  the  unborn  Americans  of  future  generations? 

In  addition  to  the  steps  which  we  should  take  at  once  to 
accomplish  the  more  effective  exclusion  of  the  insane,  imbecile, 
idiot,  tuberculous,  those  afflicted  with  loathsome  or  dangerous 
contagious  diseases,  etc.,  we  ought  to  amend  our  immigration 
laws  so  that  it  will  be  possible  to  exclude  more  aliens  of  such 
low  vitality  and  poor  physique  that  they  are  eugenically  undesir- 
able for  parenthood. 


Nation.     98:430-1,  April  16,  1914 

Problems  of   Immigration.     Henry   P.   Fairchild 

To  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  NATION  : 

Sir :  May  I  be  permitted  to  give  expression  to  my  surprise 
on  reading,  in  your  editorial  on  "The  Irish  in  Our  Public  Life," 
in  the  Nation  for  March  26,  the  following  sentences :  "For  ex- 
ample he  (Professor  Ross)  has  previously  given  expression  to 
the  serious  disquietude  which  many  Americans  feel  today  in 
connection  with  the  new-comers  from  South  European  countries. 
But  their  grandfathers  were  just  as  acutely  concerned  over  the 
Irish  emigrants.  These  were,  sixty  and  seventy  years  ago,  as 
much  disliked  and  even  dreaded  as  are,  by  some,  Slav  and  Italian 
today.  ...  It  may  be  asked,  however,  if  the  large  immigra- 
tion of  today  will  not,  half  a  century  hence,  look  as  harmless 
and  even  desirable  as  does  now  the  Irish  immigrants  of  1845-  55." 

The  argument  that  it  is  wrong  to  object  to  the  "new  immi- 
gration" because  our  forefathers  objected  just  as  strongly  to  the 
"old  immigration,"  which  we  now  regard  as  innocuous  or  even 
desirable,  has  four  distinct  weaknesses,  any  one  of  which  is 
sufficient  to  condemn  it.  The  first  is  a  question  of  fact.  Often 
as  we  hear  this  statement  repeated,  it  is  not  at  all  certain  that 
our  grandfathers  disliked  and  dreaded  the  Irish  as  much  as  we 
fear  the  Slavs  and  Italians.  I  have  had  occasion  to  examine 
with  great  care  the  evidence  on  this  point  furnished  by  the 
contemporary  writings  and  discussions,  and  I  have  failed  to  find 
any  widespread  sentiment  against  the  Irish  comparable  to  the 
restrictionist  agitation  of  today. 

In  the  second  place,  such  objections  to  immigration  as  there 


ON   IMMIGRATION  85 

were  rested  on  wholly  different  grounds  from  those  of  the 
present.  The  antipathy  felt  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury was  not  against  the  Irish  as  such,  nor  was  it  against  a 
degrading  competition  in  the  economic  field.  It  was  against 
paupers,  criminals,  diseased  persons,  and  Roman  Catholics.  To 
treat  the  opposition  to  immigration  of  the  twentieth  century  as  if 
it  were  analogous  to  that  of  this  earlier  period  misses  the  point 
completely.  An  excellent  illustration  is  furnished  by  the  fact  that 
whereas  we  fear  that  our  present  immigrants  will  not  avail  them- 
selves of  the  blessings  of  American  citizenship  and  will  fail  to 
become  naturalized,  our  grandfathers  feared  that  they  would 
become  naturalized  too  easily,  and  wanted  to  extend  the  period 
of  residence  required  for  citizenship  to  twenty  or  twenty-five 
years,  or  to  refuse  naturalization  altogether. 

In  the  third  place,  this  argument  always  assumes  that  none 
of  the  evils  which  our  forebears  dreaded  in  connection  with  the 
Irish  immigration  has,  in  fact,  materialized.  This  assumption  is 
open  to  serious  question.  It  is,  of  course,  a  difficult  and  hazard- 
ous undertaking1  to  assign  any  of  our  present-day  problems  to 
any  specific  foreign  race.  But  there  is  evidence  that  the  Irish 
are  responsible  for  more  than  their  share  of  some  of  our  troubles. 
On  the  same  day  in  which  I  read  your  editorial,  my  attention 
was  attracted  by  an  editorial  in  the  New  York  Times,  which 
spoke  thus  of  the  Irish  attitude  towards  the  repeal  of  the  tolls 
exemption  law :  "The  opposition  of  the  Irish- American  organi- 
zations is  characteristically  open  and  vociferous.  The  motive  is 
far  from  creditable.  .  .  .  [They]  have  been  prompted  thereto 
by  their  hatred  of  England.  They  act  on  an  American  question 
from  considerations  wholly  un-American,  which  is  pretty  bad 
citizenship."  The  fact  that  one  of  our  great  dailies  can  speak 
thus  of  the  Irish  after  two-thirds  of  a  century  of  Americanization 
is  at  least  disquieting.  If  we  turn  to  more  concrete  matters,  we 
find  that  the  number  of  Irish  paupers  in  this  country  is  out  of 
all  proportion  to  their  percentage  of  the  total  population — 46.4 
per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  foreign-born  paupers  in  the  alms- 
houses  in  1903,  over  one-third  (including  native-born  of  Irish 
fathers)  of  the  total  number  of  charity  cases  of  all  nationalities 
in  Bellevue  and  allied  hospitals,  etc.  Among  criminals,  also, 
the  Irish  stand  at  the  head  of  the  foreign-born  as  regards  the 
total  number  of  offences.  Furthermore,  it  is  most  significant 
that  in  the  one  aspect  of  life  in  which,  as  your  editorial  points 


86  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

out,  the  Irish  have  displayed  the  most  marked  ability,  viz., 
public  affairs,  the  record  which  they  have  made — as  you  also 
point  out — has  not  been  such  as  wholly  to  discredit  the  sagacity 
of  our  forefathers  when  they  were  uneasy  as  to  the  effect  of 
the  Irish  on  American  politics. 

The  fact  is  that  we  have  become  accustomed  to  those  evils  of 
American  life  which  are  traceable  to  the  early  immigration,  and 
take  them  for  granted.  We  even  go  so  far  as  to  use  them  as  a 
means  of  forestalling  unfavorable  comparisons  between  south- 
eastern Europeans  and  Americans.  An  excellent  illustration  of 
this  is  afforded  by  [Dr.  PeterJRoberts'")  in  his  book,  'JXheJiew 
immigration/'  when,  in  an  effort  to  extenuate  the  drunkenness 
and  lawlessness  of  the  newcomers,  or  at  least  to  divide  the 
responsibility,  he  points  out  that  "with  very  rare  exceptions  the 
men  on  the  bench,  in  the  brewery  business,  and  in  politics,"  who 
help  to  create  these  conditions,  "are  native-born."  He  does  not 
stop  to  consider  how  many  of  them  are  the  sons  of  the  Irish 
and  German  immigrants  of  the  nineteenth  century,  whom  Dr. 
Roberts,  along  with  others,  regards  as  so  desirable. 

Finally,  the  most  significant  fact  of  all  is  that  the  one  reason 
why  the  evil  effects  of  the  Irish  and  German  immigration  of  the 
forties  and  fifties  are  not  much  more  widespread  and  prominent 
than  they  are,  is  that  this  very  agitation  of  our  forefathers, 
which  we  deride,  had  its  effect.  To  be  sure,  some  of  it,  par- 
ticularly that  based  on  religious  prejudice,  was  misguided  and 
unjustifiable  according  to  our  lights.  But  the  great  agitation 
against  the  indiscriminate  dumping  of  foreign  paupers  and 
criminals  on  our  shores,  and  against  the  horrible  shipping  con- 
ditions which  landed  swarms  of  miserable  wretches  on  our  docks 
who  had  to  be  hauled  away  in  carts  to  the  hospitals  and  alms- 
houses,  rested  on  a  solid  foundation.  For  decades  the  wiser 
spirits  of  the  time  fought  for  laws  which  would  protect  the  com- 
munities of  this  country  against  an  intolerable  burden  of  expense 
in  the  support  of  indigent  foreigners.  We  of  today  are  reaping 
the  benefit  of  this  agitation,  and  it  ill  becomes  us  to  ridicule  it 
from  the  vantage  point  of  our  security.  It  is  doubtful  if  a  half 
or  even  a  quarter  of  the  Irish  immigrants  who  made  up  the  great 
migration  of  1845-55  would  be  allowed  even  to  embark  from  the 
shores  of  Ireland,  to  say  nothing  of  being  admitted  to  the 
United  States,  in  the  year  1914.  If  we  were  confronted  with  an 
immigration  of  the  sort  that  our  grandfathers  had  to  deal  with 


ON  IMMIGRATION  87 

we  should  be  much  more   vociferous  in  our  protests  than  they 
were. 

The  immigration  problem  of  the  twentieth  century  is  in  many 
ways  a  wholly  new  one.  No  arguments  concerning'  it  are  more 
fallacious  than  those  which  compare  it,  without  discrimination, 
with  that  of  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  draw 
conclusions  from  parallels.  And  there  is  no  more  complete 
justification  for  a  sober  and  well-considered  protest  against  the 
immigration  of  the  present  than  that  afforded  by  a  contemplation 
of  the  debt  we  owe  to  the  agitators  of  an  earlier  period. 

Charities.     12:129-33.    February  6,  1904 

Immigration  as  a  Relief  Problem.     Edward  T.  Devine 

The  relief  problem  of  the  American  seaboard  cities  is  greatly 
affected  by  immigration.  The  immigrant  of  the  twentieth  century 
offers  little  resemblance  to  the  colonist  of  the  early  days  of  the 
republic.  The  colonist  was  establishing  new  outposts  of  civiliza- 
tion; he  was  one  who  was  capable  of  making  his  way  in  the  face 
of  adverse  circumstances ;  he  was  influenced  by  some  strong  reli- 
gious or  political  or  economic  motive,  and  felt  within  himself  a 
daring  and  strength  of  character  sufficient  to  overcome  the  dan- 
gers, the  loneliness,  and  the  privations  of  the  frontier.  Coloniza- 
tion is,  in  short,  one  of  those  differentiating  agencies  leading  to 
the  selection  and  survival  of  those  who  have  initiative  and  excep- 
tional capacity.  Immigration,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  compara- 
tively easy  escape  from  hard  conditions.  The  immigrant  is  one 
who  follows  in  a  path  already  made  easy.  He  goes  where  his 
friends  or  relatives  have  gone,  and  settles  in  the  spot  where  they 
have  settled.  He  yields  to  the  artifices  of  transportation  agents, 
or  may  even  be  assisted  by  the  public  authorities  of  his  own 
community  to  emigrate  for  his  country's  good.  Until  legal  inter- 
ference is  interposed  he  comes  under  a  contract  to  work  at 
occupations  and  under  industrial  conditions  about  which  he  may 
be  entirely  ignorant,  thus  lending  himself  readily  to  a  lowering  of 
the  standard  both  of  living  and  of  wages.  He  is  scarcely  con- 
scious even  of  the  handicap  of  speaking  a  foreign  language, 
since  he  is  worked  and  lodged  with  others  of  his  own  nationality, 
and  under  foremen  who  can  speak  to  him  in  his  own  language. 

The  immigrant  who  goes  under  tempting  circumstances  to  a 


88  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

place  literally  prepared  for  his  arrival,  has  therefore  rather  less 
than  the  average  initiative,  independence  and  courage,  the  quali- 
ties which  are  so  predominant  in  the  original  settlers  of  a  new 
country.  This  is,  of  course,  by  no  means  a  correct  description  of 
all  immigrants.  There  may  be  little  difference  between  the  best 
immigrant  and  the  best  colonist,  or  even  between  the  majority  of 
immigrants  and  the  majority  of  colonists.  The  description  applies 
rather  to  the  marginal  colonist  and  immigrant  respectively — to  the 
least  efficient  class  who  are  nevertheless  represented  in  each  in 
considerable  numbers.  In  the  frontier  colony  the  minimum  wage- 
earning  capacity  and  industrial  efficiency  is  necessarily  high,  in 
the  immigrant  it  may  be  very  low,  and  it  is  with  these  marginal 
immigrants  that  relief  agencies  have  chiefly  to  deal. 

Recognition  of  the  family,  even  in  its  collateral  branches,  and 
the  placing  of  burdens  upon  those  who  are  their  blood  kindred  is 
one  of  the  first  principles  of  organized  relief.  When,  however, 
all  inquiries  run  quickly  to  the  ocean's  edge,  the  chances  of  any 
effective  recognition  of  family  responsibility  are  greatly  lessened. 
A  vague  statement  that  one's  parents  or  other  kindred  in  Syria, 
in  Poland,  in  Southern  Italy  or  in  Ireland  have  all  that  they  can 
do  to  support  themselves,  is  not  easily  disproved,  even  if  it  is  not 
always  true.  Correspondence  with  relief  agencies  throughout  the 
European  continent  is  difficult,  and  even  when  it  has  been  estab- 
lished, is  often  inconclusive  because  of  the  different  points  of 
view  and  the  differences  in  language,  customs  and  standards. 
When  one  has  lost  employment  and  has  but  a  few  acquaintances, 
and  these  perhaps  hastily  formed,  it  is,  of  course,  more  difficult 
for  him  to  give  those  evidences  of  character  and  fitness  which 
would  be  available  in  his  native  land,  but  which  are  not  readily 
imported  among  the  immigrant's  assets.  It  is  beyond  reasonable 
expectation  also,  that  when  one  has  through  old  age  or  infirmity 
become  a  public  charge,  there  should  be  quite  the  same  degree  of 
tenderness  and  consideration  for  an  immigrant  as  the  same  indi- 
vidual might  have  experienced  in  a  similar  adverse  fate  in  the 
home  of  his  ancestors. 

I  am  not  apologizing  for  any  indifference  to  the  necessities  of 
those  who  are  in  distress,  but  pointing  out  that  absence  from 
those  upon  whom  they  have  the  strongest  claim  for  the  offices 
prompted  by  ties  of  kindred  and  of  intimate  association  through 
generations,  is  a  deprivation  of  that  for  which  there  is  no  ready 
substitute.  This,  however,  increases  rather  than  lessens  the  re- 


ON  IMMIGRATION  89 

sponsibility  of  those  who  in  public  or  in  private  charities  admin- 
ister relief.  Those  who  have  been  in  the  country  but  a  short  time 
may  wisely  be  returned  to  their  homes,  but  others  who  may 
remain  after  the  lapse  of  years  essentially  immigrants,  may  be  in 
distress  and  it  may  be  possible  to  relieve  them,  or  necessary  to 
support  them  in  the  dependent  condition.  It  is  not  by  withholding 
relief  from  individuals  or  from  families  who  may  be  wisely  aided, 
that  the  evil  consequences  of  unrestricted  immigration  are 'to  be 
/'"'met.  The  strengthening  of  existing  laws,  an  additional  clause 
excluding  illiterate  adults,  and  by  providing  more  efficient  means 
for  the  deportation  of  those  who  have  been  admitted  through 
misrepresentation  or  fraud  is  advisable,  and  the  uniform  and 
equitable  administration  of  existing  laws  is  essential. 

The  arguments  in  favor  of  unrestricted  immigration  are  that 
cheap  labor  is  needed  in  the  building  of  railways  and  in  many 
other  undertakings  in  which  the  directive  intelligence  can  be 
separated  from  the  physical  labor  required ;  and  that  any  practical 
test  such  as  ability  to  read  or  write,  possession  of  a  given  sum  of 
money,  or  even  a  certificate  of  good  character  from  the  place  of 
departure  will  operate  to  exclude  many  who  nevertheless  under 
new  conditions,  in  a  new  land,  might  prove  to  be  very  useful  and 
entirely  self-supporting  citizens. 

While  it  is  true  that  cheap  labor  may  be  made  profitable  from 
the  employer's  point  of  view,  it  does  not  follow  that  those  who 
are  considering  the  interests  of  the  community  as  a  whole  can 
look  with  favor  upon  it.  The  superintendent  of  a  mill,  which  had 
within  a  few  years  replaced  efficient,  but  highly  paid  American 
laborers  by  Hungarians,  analyzed  the  results  of  the  change  in 
conversation  with  the  author  as  follows :  The  new  laborers  could 
do  less  work  in  a  given  time,  but  they  were  willing  to  work  at 
less  wages,  and  they  were  willing  to  work  more  hours  in  the 
week.  Being  less  efficient  and  having  less  initiative  it  had  been 
necessary  to  increase  the  number  of  foremen  and  to  pay  them 
somewhat  higher  wages,  holding  them  responsible  to  a  greater 
extent  than  before  for  the  correction  of  mistakes  and  for  driving 
the  men  under  them  at  their  maximum  capacity.  As  the  men 
worked  for  longer  hours  the  machinery  was  idle  for  a  smaller 
part  of  the  time  and  the  total  product  was  increased  at  less 
expense.  This  illustration  is  not  presented  as  typical.  In  many 
instances  the  product  would  doubtless  be  diminished  rather  than 
increased  by  such  a  substitution,  and  the  cost  increased  so  that 


QO  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

the  net  result  would  be  a  diminution  of  profits.  Within  reason- 
able limits  the  general  principle  is  that  high-priced  labor  is  eco- 
nomic labor,  the  condition  being  that  it  shall  be  as  intelligent,  as 
trustworthy  and  as  efficient  as  it  is  well-paid.  Nevertheless  the 
exploitation  of  cheap  labor,  as  is  illustrated  in  the  instance  above 
cited,  is  not  infrequent,  and  whether  in  the  long  run  it  is  dis- 
astrous or  beneficial  in  a  given  industry,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
for  individuals  in  charge  of  particular  industries  at  particular 
times,  it  will  offer  an  opportunity  for  pecuniary  profit  and  that 
such  an  opportunity  will  be  seized.  With  the  consequences  to 
the  industry  in  the  long  run,  the  employer  of  the  moment  may 
have  little  concern.  Tfop  effectof  utilizing  underpaid  immigrant 
labor  under  conditions  which,  in  order  to  afford  a  living  at  all, 
makes  excessive  demands  upon  adult  men,  and  leads  irresistibly 
to  the  employment  of  women  and  children,  is  directly^  to  in- 
crease the  number  who  sooner  or  later  require  relief.  To  pro- 
duce stray  instances  or  even  a  goodly  number  of  persons  who 
have  struggled  through  such  adverse  conditions  without  becom- 
ing dependent  upon  others,  is  not  to  offer  evidence  to  the  con- 
trary. The  plain  tendency  is  to  augment  the  number  of  those 
who  break  down  prematurely;  of  those  who  in  advanced  years 
have  made  no  provision  for  their  own  maintenance ;  of  the 
children  whose  support  must  be  supplied  by  others  than  their 
own  parents,  and  of  those  who,  meeting  with  unexpected  mis- 
fortune of  any  kind,  have  no  resources  except  the  generosity 

of  strangers. 

* 

Survey.    25:579-86.    January  7,  1911 

Industrial  Communities.     W.  Jett  Lauck. 

The  widespread  existence  of  immigrant  communities  or  col- 
onies in  the  United  States  at  the  present  time  may  be  realized, 
when  it  is  stated  that  in  the  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi 
and  north  of  the  Ohio  and  Potomac  rivers  there  is  no  town  or 
city  of  industrial  importance,  with  the  exception  of  the  lead  and 
zinc  mining  localities  of  Missouri,  which  does  not  have  its 
immigrant  colony  or  section  composed  of  Slavs,  Magyars,  north 
and  south  Italians,  or  members  of  other  races  of  recent  immi- 
gration from  southern  and  eastern  Europe.  In  the  South  and 
Southwest,  because  of  the  large  areas  devoted  almost  exclusively 


ON  IMMIGRATION  91 

to  agriculture,  the  immigrant  community  is  less  frequently  met 
than  in  the  middle  West  or  East.  In  the  bituminous  coal  mining 
territory  of  West  Virginia,  Virginia,  Alabama,  Arkansas  and 
Oklahoma,  immigrant  colonies  in  large  numbers  have  been  devel- 
oped in  the  same  way  as  those  in  the  coal  mining  regions  of 
Pennsylvania  and  the  middle  West.  Southern  and  eastern 
Europeans  have  also  attached  themselves  to  the  iron  and  steel 
producing  communities  of  the  Birmingham  district  in  Alabama ; 
and  a  large  Italian  colony,  as  is  well  known,  exists  in  New 
Orleans,  a  considerable  number  of  whose  members  are  employed 
in  the  cotton  mills  of  the  city  and  in  the  manufacture  of  cigars 
and  cigarettes.  South  Italians,  Cubans,  and  Spaniards  have 
entered  the  cigar  manufacturing  establishments  of  Tampa  and 
Key  West,  Fla.,  and  have  built  up  colonies  in  these  cities.  Out- 
side New  Orleans,  however,  no  recent  immigrants  in  the  South 
are  cotton  mill  operatives.  Southern  mill  owners  have  fre- 
quently tried  to  introduce  southern  and  eastern,  as  well  as 
northern,  European  and  British  immigrants  into  their  operating 
forces,  but  all  attempts  have  resulted  in  failure  because  of  the 
refusal  of  the  present  cotton  mill  workers,  recruited  from  isolated 
farm  and  mountain  sections,  to  work  alongside  recent  immi- 
grants. This  same  intense  race  prejudice  on  the  part  of  southern 
wage-earners  of  native  birth  has  rendered  impossible  the 
extensive  employment  of  southern  and  eastern  Europeans  in 
other  branches  of  manutacturing  in  the  South,  and  has  con- 
sequently prevented  the  development  of  immigrant  industrial 
colonies,  except  in  the  instances  already  mentioned,  and  in  the 
case  of  a  number  of  agricultural  communities,  principally  located 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

Between  the  immigrant  colonies  which  have  affixed  themselves 
to  industrial  centers  such  as  the  New  England  textile  manufac- 
turing cities  or  the  iron  and  steel  manufacturing  localities  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  older  native-born  portion  of  the  towns  or 
cities  there  is  little  contact  or  association  beyond  that  rendered 
necessary  by  business  or  working  relations.  Immigrant  work- 
men and  their  households  not  only  live  in  sections  or  colonies 
according  to  race,  but,  as  has  already  been  stated,  attend  and 
support  their  own  churches,  maintain  their  own  business  institu- 
tions and  places  of  recreation,  and  have  their  own  fraternal  and 
beneficial  organizations.  Even  in  the  mines  and  manufacturing 
plants,  there  is  a  sharp  line  of  division  in  the  occupations  or  the 


92  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

departments  in  which  recent  immigrants  and  persons  of  native 
birth  are  engaged,  and  in  the  case  of  unskilled  labor  the  immi- 
grant workmen  are,  as  a  rule,  brought  together  in  gangs  com- 
posed of  one  race  or  closely  related  races.  In  those  industrial 
localities  which  are  strongly  unionized,  the  affiliation  of  im- 
migrant workmen  with  native  Americans  is  small.  A  considerable 
proportion  of  the  children  of  foreign-born  parents  are  also 
segregated  in  the  parochial  schools.  Women  of  recent  immi- 
grant races,  beyond  the  small  degree  of  contact  which  they  obtain 
in  factories  or  as  domestic  servants,  practically  live  entirely  re- 
moved from  Americanizing  influences.  As  a  consequence  of  this 
general  isolation  of  immigrant  colonies,  the  tendencies  toward 
assimilation  exhibited  by  the  recent  immigrant  population  are 
small,  and  the  maintenance  of  old  customs  and  standards  leads 
to  congestion  and  insanitary  housing  and  living  conditions.  The 
native-born  element  in  the  population  of  industrial  communities 
of  the  type  under  discussion  is  in  most  cases  ignorant  of  condi- 
tions which  prevail  in  immigrant  sections;  but  even  when  ac- 
quainted with  them,  natives  are  usually  indifferent  so  long  as  they 
do  not  become  too  pronounced  a  menace  to  the  public  health  and 
welfare.  Under  normal  conditions  there  is  no  antipathy  to  the 
immigrant  population,  beyond  the  feeling  uniformly  met  with  in 
all  sections,  that  a  certain  stigma  or  reproach  attaches  to  working 
with  recent  arrivals  or  in  the  same  occupations.  This  aversion  of 
the  native  American,  which  is  psychological  in  its  nature  and 
arises  from  race  prejudice  or  ignorance,  is,  however,  one  of  the 
most  effective  forces  in  racial  segregation  and  displacement. 

In  the  case  of  the  immigrant  industrial  communities  which 
have  recently  come  into  existence  through  industrial  development, 
and  which  are  almost  entirely  composed  of  foreign-born  persons, 
or  in  which  foreign-born  elements  are  predominant,  a  situation 
exists  of  alien  colonies  being  established  on  American  soil,  often 
composed  of  a  large  number  of  races  living  according  to  their 
own  standards,  largely  under  their  own  systems  of  control  and 
practically  isolated  from  all  direct  contact  with  American  life 
and  institutions.  The  Americanization  of  such  communities,  as 
compared  with  the  immigrant  colonies  of  old  established  indus- 
trial towns  and  cities,  must  necessarily  be  slow.  It  is  to  be  ex- 
pected, also,  that  before  these  communities  are  assimilated  they 
will  have  a  pronounced  effect  upon  American  life,  for  the  reason 
that  the  slowness  of  the  process  will  result  in  the  establishment, 


ON  IMMIGRATION  93 

perhaps  in  a  modified  form,  of  many  Old  World  standards  and 
institutions. 

The  standards  of  living  of  industrial  workers  who  have  come 
to  our  mining  and  manufacturing  communities  from  the  south 
and  east  of  Europe  are  also  low.  Recent  immigrant  males,  being 
usually  single  or,  if  married,  having  left  their  wives  abroad,  have 
been  able  to  adopt  in  large  measure  a  group  instead  of  a  family 
living  arrangement,  thereby  reducing  their  cost  of  living  to  a  point 
far  below  that  of  the  American  or  the  older  immigrant  in  the 
same  industry  or  on  the  same  level  of  occupation. 

Another  salient  fact  exhibited  by  recent  immigrants  who  have 
sought  work  in  American  industries  and  who  have  settled  in  in- 
/flustrial  communities  has  been  that  as  a  whole  they  have  mani- 
fested  but  a  small  degree  of  permanent  interest  in  their  employ- 
ment or  in  the  community.  They  have  constituted  a  mobile, 
migratory,  wage-earning  class,  constrained  mainly  by  their  eco- 
nomic interest,  and  moving  readily  from  place  to  place  according 
to  changes  in  working  conditions  or  fluctuations  in  the  demand 
for  labor.  The  recent  immigrant  ordinarily  has  no  property  or 
other  restraining  interests  which  attach  him  to  a  community,  and 
a  large  proportion  being  unaccompanied  by  wives  or  children, 
and  having  their  accumulations  in  a  cash  or  convertible  form, 
are  free  to  follow  the  best  industrial  inducements.  The  transitory 
characteristic  developed  as  a  result  of  these  conditions  is  best 
illustrated  by  the  racial  movements  from  the  larger  industries 
into  railroad  construction,  seasonal  and  other  temporary  work, 
by  the  floating  immigrant  labor  supply  handled  through  labor 
agencies  and  padrones,  and  by  the  remarkable  falling  off  in  the 
population  of  immigrant  communities  in  times  of  industrial 
depression. 

^  In  general  it  may  be  said  that  the  menace  in  the  presence  of 
the  recent  immigrant  in  our  industrial  communities,  so  far  as  the 
native  American  and  older  foreign  wage-earners  from  Great 
Britain  and  northern  Europe  are  concerned,  consists  in  the  low 
standard  of  living,  the  illiteracy,  the  absence  of  industrial  training, 
and  the  tractability  and  lack  of  aggressiveness  of  the  southern 
and  eastern  Europeans.  As  regards  the  recent  immigrants  them- 
selves, their  general,  as  well  as  their  industrial,  progress  and  as- 
similation are  retarded  by  their  segregation  in  colonies  and 
communities  where  they  have  little  contact  with  American 
life  and  small  opportunity  to  acquire  the  English  language.  The 


94  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

sudden  transplanting  of  such  an,  agricultural  class  of  the  Old 
World  to  the  conditions  and  environments  of  American  industrial 
communities  renders  the  recent  immigrant  liable  to  serious  moral 
and  physical  deterioration. 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.      34: 125-29.    July,  1909 

Immigration  and  the  American  Laboring  Classes. 
John   Mitchell 

In  discussing  the  subject  of  The  Relationship  of  Immigra- 
tion to  the  Condition  of  the  Laboring  Classes  in  the  United 
States,  I  want  to  present  the  matter  from  the  standpoint  of  a 
workman.  I  have  spent  all  my  life  either  as  a  workingman  or 
as  an  employee  of  workingmen ;  hence  I  have  had  an  unusual 
opportunity  to  observe  the  influence  of  immigration  upon  the 
standards  of  living  among  workingmen. 

At  the  outset  I  wish  to  lay  down  the  fundamental  proposition 
that  a  low  standard  of  living  is  not  compatible  with  a  high  race 
development.  I  have  absolutely  no  prejudice  against  the  immi- 
grant ;  I  have  no  sympathy  with  the  spirit  that  has  made  a  slogan 
of  the  words,  "America  for  the  Americans."  While  I  am  an 
American  in  all  that  the  word  implies,  I  believe  that  we  should 
welcome  to  our  country  all  the  white  races  from  every  part  of 
the  earth;  provided,  however,  that  in  coming  here  these  immi- 
grants do  not  lower  our  American  standard  of  living ;  and 
provided  further,  that  they  be  admitted  only  in  such  numbers 
as  will  make  it  possible  to  assimilate  them  and  bring  them  up, 
within  a  reasonable  time,  to  the  standards  of  life  and  labor 
which  have  been  established  here. 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  migration  of  races  from 
one  country  to  another  know  that  in  the  early  history  of  this 
republic  every  healthy  immigrant  arriving  upon  our  shores  was 
an  asset  to  us ;  but  during  the  past  ten  or  fifteen  years  immi- 
gration has  increased  so  rapidly  and  has  reached  such  stupendous 
proportions  that  many  of  these  immigrants,  instead  of  being 
assets,  are  in  reality  liabilities.  A  man  is  of  value  to  this 
country  only  so  long  as  his  presence  here  makes  for  the  better- 
ment of  the  people  and  the  institutions  of  the  country.  If  more 
immigrants  are  admitted  than  are  required  to  fill  unoccupied 
positions,  and  if,  as  a  consequence,  they  are  compelled  by  their 


ON   IMMIGRATION  95 

necessities  to  compete  with  Americans  for  positions,  and  if  as 
a  result  of  such  competition  the  standard  of  living  is  lowered, 
then  such  immigration  will  not  make  for  either  the  commejcial 
or  the  moral  advancement  of  the  people  of  our  country. 

During,  the  past  ten  years  8,525,000  immigrants  have  been 
admitted  to  the  United  Stages.  More  people  have  come  to 
America  in  the  past  ten  years  than  have  gone  from  one  country 
to  another  heretofore  during  any  one  hundred  years.  In  ten  x, 
years  the  net  gain  in  our  population  from  immigration  alone 
has  been  nearly  6,000,000.  I  submit  that  notwithstanding  the 
unprecedented  development  of  this  country  and  the  unusual 
opportunities  existing  here,  we  cannot  assimilate  five  or  six 
million  people  every  ten  years.  Last  December,  as  a  result  of 
the  most  careful  investigation,  it  was  ascertained  that  in  the 
United  States  there  were  some  2,000,000  men  out  of  work.  At  ; 
the  present  time  it  is  safe  to  say  that  there  are  still  approxi- 
mately 2,000,000  persons  in  enforced  idleness.  Yet,  in  the  face 
of  this,  during  the  past  three  months  the  emigration  to  this 
country  has  been  at  the  rate  of  1,000,000  annually.  About  200,000 
immigrants  have  been  admitted  during  this  period.  They  have 
come  at  a  time  when  2,000,000  persons,  principally  Americans, 
on  the  streets  looking  for  work.  Surely  these  immigrants, 
arriving  vnder  such  conditions,  contribute  nothing  to  the  com- 
mercial, intellectual,  or  moral  advancement  of  our  country  or 
its  people. 

We  Americans  are  prone  to  speak  with  disrespect  of  the 
tramp ;  we  characterize  him  as  a  "hobo,"  and  frequently  we 
call  him  a  criminal.  When  I  was  quite  a  young  boy,  I,  with 
many  others,  was  thrown  out  of  employment,  our  places  having 
been  given  to  immigrants  who  would  work  cheaper.  Being 
unable  to  secure  work  at  a  living  wage  nearer  home,  I  was 
compelled  to  travel,  walking  most  of  the  way,  nearly  1,500  miles 
in  search  of  employment.  During  this  journey  I  saw  hundreds 
of  men  walking  from  place  to  place  looking  for  work,  and  I 
have  seen  them  forced  to  ask  for  bread.  In  no  case  did  I  ever 
see  a  man  ask  for  bread  without  observing  that  the  effect  upon 
him  was  most  degrading  and  demoralizing.  In  begging  for 
food  a  man's  sense  of  pride  and  shame  suffers  a  most  serious 
shock,  and  in  time  it  is  entirely  destroyed.  Finally  he  becomes 
accustomed  to  the  new  environment  and  often  joins  permanently 
the  army  of  tramps  and  mendicants. 


k 

96  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  observe  that  while  looking  for 
work  myself  and  during  the  many  years  of  my  activity  as  a 
leader  of  workingmen,  I  have  never  seen  a  newly-arrived  immi- 
grant tramping  the  highways  seeking  employment.  On  the 
surface,  this  statement  may  seem  to  be  a  tribute  to  the  immi- 
grant ;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  properly  interpreted  it  means 
*  that  the  newly-arrived  immigrant  has  underbid  the  American 
workman  and  secured  his  job. /He  has  sent  the  American  work- 
man "on  the  road"  by  taking  the  place  he  held  at  a  rate  of 
wages  lower  than  the  American  would  accept.  It  may  be 'said 
in  answer  that  the  American  should  work  for  as  low  wages  as 
the  immigrant;  that  half  a  loaf  is  better  than  no  bread.  But  there 
is  a  standard  of  ethics  among  American  workmen  which  deters 
them  from  working  for  less  than  the  established  rate;  they 
would  rather  tramp  than  reduce  the  wage  scale  or  lower  the 
standard  of  living.  In  this  position  they  are  right,  because  if 
they  reduced  the  wage  scale  to  keep  themselves  employed,  it 
would  be  a  question  of  only  a  short  time  before  the  entire  wage 
scale  would  be  lowered  and  the  standard  of  life  and  labor 
among  all  workingmen  would  deteriorate. 

Conditions  in  America  are  not  so  favorable  now  for  a  large 
immigration  as  they  were  years  ago.  In  the  early  times  immi- 
grants could  be  so  distributed  throughout  our  cities  and  rural 
communities  that  the  Americans  and  those  with  American  stan- 
dards remained  in  such  ascendency  that  they  were  able  to  assimi- 
late the  immigrants,  thus  maintaining  the  standard  of  living,  and 
harm  was  done.  Butrxiuring  the  past  twenty  years  the 
immigrant  has  not  been  distributed  promiscuously  throughout  the 
country ;  on  the  contrary,  he  has  been  colonized,  and  there  are 
many  communities  in  which  scarcely  a  word  of  English  is  now 
spoken.  We  find  in  our  large  cities,  districts  called  "Little 
Hungary,"  "Little  Italy,"  the  "Ghetto,"  and  in  these  colonies 
the  people  live  practically  as  they  lived  in  the  countries  from 
which  they  came. 

In  the  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania,  in  which  mining  was  for- 
merly carried  on  by  Americans,  or  by  English-speaking  immi- 
grants, an  entire  transformation  has  taken  place.  About  thirty- 
five  years  ago  emigrations  were  started  from  southern  Europe 
and  these  men  were  put  to  work  mining  coal  at  one  end  of  the 
great  anthracite  valley. /^Those  of  you  who  have  read  the  history 
of  the  Huns  and  the  Vandals  and  how  they  overran  the  countries 


ON   IMMIGRATION  97 

of  Europe,  can  see  in  Pennsylvania  a  peaceful  repetition  of  that  ' 
invasion.  Slowly  but  surely  these  men  from  southern  Europe, 
coming  year  by  year  in  ever-increasing  numbers,  drove  before 
them  the  miners  and  mine  workers  who  preceded  them  as 
workmen  in  the  coal  fields.  Not  a  violent  blow  was  struck ; 
not  an  unlawful  act  committed;  but  just  as  surely  as,  in  the 
history  of  nations,  one  race  ever  over-ran  another,  these  people 
from  southern  Europe  over-ran  the  English-speaking  people  of 
the  coal  fields.  They  drove  them  from  town  to  town  and  from 
district  to  district,  until  the  English-speaking  miners  made  their 
last  stand  at  the  upper  end  of  the  valley,  where  mining  ceases 
and  the  coal  out-crops.  In  a  few  years  more  they  will  have 
disappeared  altogether.  They  have  been  driven  entirely  from 
their  homes  and  the  homes  of  their  ancestors.  The  whole  region 
is  now  populated  by  non-English-speaking  people.  Cities  with 
a  population  of  20,000  are  just  the  same  as  are  some  of  the  cities 
in  southern  Europe.  Children  are  being  reared  amidst  sur- 
roundings which  will  retard  for  two  or  three  generations  their 
assimilation  and  their  development  into  real  Americans. 

Years  ago  the  child  born  of  foreign  parents  in  this  country  y 
lost  all  characteristics  of,  even  the  resemblance  to,  the  race 
whence  he  came ;  he  took  on  the  type  of  the  American ;  but  such 
is  not  the  case  in  communities  where  immigrants  are  colonized. 
True,  their  children  are  required  to  go  to  school  and  they  learn 
to  read  and  write.  Under  proper  conditions  and  given  a  fair 
chance,  they  would  develop  rapidly,  but  the  absence  of  the 
American  standard  of  living  and  the  American  ideals  renders  it 
impossible  that  children  in  these  districts  shall  make  progress 
rapidly.  The  parents  of  these  children  grew  up  in  their  own 
countries  under  conditions  dissimilar  to  the  conditions  estab- 
lished here;  they  started  to  work  when  they  were  five  or  six 
or  seven  years  of  age.  It  is  difficult  for  them  to  understand 
the  necessity  of  having  their  children  remain  in  school  until  they 
are  fourteen  years  of  age;  yet  we  Americans  would  regard  it  as 
an  outrage  if  our  children  were  compelled  to  work  in  the  mines, 
the  mills  or  the  factories  before  they  were  fourteen  years  of  age. 
The  system  of  colonizing1  immigrants  is  not  only  destructive 
of  the  standard  of  living  of  wage  earners,  but  it  is  a  menace 
to  American  ideals.  The  American  workingmen — and  this  in- 
cludes, generally  speaking,  the  immigrants  now  in  our  country — 
v  favor  legislation  which  will  reduce  the  number  of  immigrants 


98  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

^--seeking  admission  and  raise  the  standard  of  those  who  gain 
admission.  This  legislation  is  calculated  not  only  to  benefit  the 
American  workingman,  but  it  is  equally  in  the  interest  of  the 
immigrant  already  here.  We  propose  that  the  head  tax  of  $4 
which  an  immigrant  must  now  pay  as  a  condition  of  being 
admitted  to  our  country  shall  be  increased  to  $20,  and  that  it 
shall  be  required  of  a  prospective  immigrant  that  he  be  able  to 
read  or  write  some  section  of  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  either  in  our  language,  or  in  some  other  language.  A 
law  of  this  kind  would  not  evade  or  violate  our  treaty  obliga- 
tions with  other  nations,  because  it  would  affect  all  nations  alike. 
I  feel  sure  that  a  provision  of  this  character  would  not  be 
regarded  as  revolutionary  or  radical,  and  yet  it  would  have  the 
effect  of  excluding  33  per  cent  of  those  who  under  the  present 
laws  seek  and  secure  admission  at  our  ports.  I  believe  that  we 
could  with  safety  to  ourselves  and  with  broad-minded  justice 
to  the  people  of  other  countries,  admit  and  assimilate  from 
150,000  to  200,000  immigrants  each  year;  but  we  cannot  continue, 
without  injury  to  ourselves,  to  admit  a  million  people  every  year. 
Cosmopolitanism,  like  charity,  begins  at  home ;  and  while  we 
must  continue,  within  proper  limitations,  to  be  an  asylum  for 
the  oppressed  and  persecuted  people  of  the  world,  yet  in  doing 
this  we  must  be  mindful  of  our  obligation  to  maintain  a  high 
standard  of  life,  labor,  and  civilization  in  our  own  country. 

Atlantic  Monthly.     110:691-6.   November,  1912 

Vanishing  American  Wage-Earner.     W.  Jett  Lauck 

The  native  American  wage-earner  is  rapidly  disappearing. 
Along  with  him  have  also  gone  his  working  companions  of  for- 
mer years,  the  English,  Irish,  Scotch,  Swedes,  Norwegians  and 
Germans.  In  their  places  have  appeared  the  representatives  of 
almost  two  score  alien  races  from  the  south  and  east  of  Europe, 
and  the  Orient.  Only  one  fifth  of  the  workers  in  our  mines 
and  manufacturing  plants  today  are  native  Americans.  About 
one  tenth  of  our  wage-earners  are  the  native-born  children  of 
parents  from  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  Germany,  and  the  Scan- 
dinavian countries.  More  than  three  .fifths  of  our  great  body 
of  industrial  workers  are  southern  or  eastern  Europeans. 

There  is  scarcely  a  city  or  town  of  any  industrial  importance 


ON   IMMIGRATION  99 

east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  north  of  the  Ohio  and  Potomac 
rivers,  which  has  not  its  immigrant  colony,  composed  of  members 
of  the  Italian,  Magyar,  and  Slavic  races.  Practically  the  same 
situation  exists  in  the  mining  states  of  the  West.  The  Pacific 
coast,  in  addition  to  its  Chinese,  Japanese,  and  Hindoos,  has  also 
received  its  contingent  of  southern  and  eastern  Europeans. 
Wherever  there  has  been  any  industrial  development — in  the  coal 
mines  of  Kansas  and  Oklahoma,  the  iron-ore  mines  of  the  Mesabi 
and  Vermilion  ranges  of  Minnesota,  the  furnaces  and  mills  at 
Pueblo,  Colorado,  and  Birmingham,  Alabama,  the  packing-houses 
in  Kansas  City,  South  Omaha,  and  Fort  Worth,  the  copper  mines 
of  Tennessee,  the  coal  mines  of  Virginia,  as  well  as  in  the  mines 
and  mills  of  the  East — the  Slav,  the  Hungarian,  and  the  Italian 
have  found  a  lodgment  in  the  operating  forces.  As  a  rule,  the 
extent  of  their  employment  decreases  as  industry  moves  west- 
ward, but  even  in  the  West  these  races  are  rapidly  becoming  pre- 
dominant among  the  industrial  workers. 

The  southern  and  eastern  European  immigrant  who  has  so 
extensively  found  employment  fn  our  mines  and  factories  has 
had  no  industrial  training  abroad.  He  has  also  brought  with  him 
a  low  standard  of  living,  and  has  been  tractable  and  subservient. 
As  a  result,  his  competition  has  exposed  the  native  American  and 
older  immigrant  employees  to  unsafe  or  unsanitary  working  con- 
ditions, and  has  led  to  or  continued  the  imposition  of  conditions 
of  employments  which  the  Americans  and  older  immigrants  have 
considered  unsatisfactory  and,  in  many  cases,  unbearable.  Where 
the  older  employees  have  found  unsafe  or  unsanitary  working 
conditions  prevailing,  and  have  protested,  the  recent  immigrant 
wage-earners,  usually  through  ignorance  of  mining  or  other 
working  methods,  have  manifested  a  willingness  to  accept  the 
alleged  unsatisfactory  working  conditions.  j 

The  southern  and  eastern  European  also,  because  of  his  tract- 
ability,  necessitous  condition,  and  low  standards,  has  been  in- 
clined, as  a  rule,  to  acquiesce  in  the  demand  on  the  part  of  the 
employers  for  extra  work  or  longer  hours.  The  industrial 
workers  have  also  accepted  without  protest  the  system  of  so- 
called  company  stores -and  houses,  which  prevails  extensively  in 
bituminous  and  anthracite  coal,  iron-ore,  and  copper  mining,  and 
other  industrial  localities. 

The  presence  of  the  recent  immigrant  industrial  worker  has 
also  brought  about  living  conditions  or  a  standard  of  life  with 


ioo  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

which  the  native  American  and  older  immigrant  employees  have 
been  unwilling,  or  have  found  it  extremely  difficult,  to  compete. 
Trie  southern  and  eastern  European  wage-earner  is  usually  single, 
or,  if  married,  has  left  his  wife  and  children  abroad.  He  has  no 
permanent  interest  in  the  community  in  which  he  lives  or  the  in- 
\  dustry  in  which  he  is  employed.  His  main  purpose  is  to  live  as 
cheaply  as  possible,  and  to  save  as  much  as  he  can.  Consequently, 
he  has  adopted  a  group  method  of  living  known  as  the  "boarding- 
boss"  system.  Under  this  plan,  from  eight  to  twenty  men  usually 
crowd  together  in  a  small  apartment  or  house  in  order  to  reduce 
the  per  capita  outlay  for  rent,  and  buy  their  own  food  and  do 
their  own  cooking.  The  total  cost  of  living  ranges  from  eight  to 
fifteen  dollars  per  month  for  each  member  of  the  group.  The 
impossibility  of  competition  by  the  native  American  with  such 
standards  of  living  needs  no  discussion. 

In  addition  to  these  conditions,  brought  about  by  the  influx 
of  southern  and  eastern  European  industrial  workers,  another 
factor,  mainly  psychological  in  its  nature,  but  no  less  powerful  in 
its  effect,  has  been  operative  in  ijie  displacement  of  native  Amer- 
icans and  older  immigrant  employees.  In  all  industries,  and  in  all 
industrial  communities,  a  certain  reproach  has  come  to  be  associ- 
ated with  native  American  or  older  immigrant  workmen  who  are 
engaged  in  the  same  occupations  as  the  southern  and  eastern 
Europeans.  This  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  older  employees  is 
mainly  due  to  the  habits  of  life  and  conduct  of  recent  immigrants, 
and  to  their  ready  acceptance  of  conditions ;  but  it  is  also  largely 
attributable  to  the  conscious  or  unconscious  antipathy,  often  aris- 
ing from  ignorance  or  prejudice,  toward  races  of  alien  customs, 
institutions,  and  manner  of  thought. 

The  same  psychological  effect  was  produced  upon  the  native 
Americans  in  all  branches  of  industrial  enterprise  who  first 
came  into  working  contact  with  the  older  immigrants  from  Great 
Britain  and  northern  Europe.  In  the  decade  1840-1850,  when  the 
Irish  immigrant  girls  were  first  employed  in  the  New  England 
cotton  mills,  the  native  women  who  had  previously  been  the  tex- 
tile operatives  protested ;  twenty  years  later  the  Irish  girls,  after 
they  had  become  firmly  fixed  in  the  industry,  rebelled  because  of 
the  employment  of  French-Canadian  girls  in  the  spinning  rooms, 
just  as  the  French-Canadian  women  refuse  to  be  brought  into 
close  working  relations  with  the  Polish  and  Italian  women  who 
are  entering  the  cotton  mills  at  the  present  time.  Whatever  may 


ON   IMMIGRATION  101 

be  the  cause  of  this  aversion  of  older  employees  to  working  by  the 
side  of  the  newer  arrivals,  the  existence  of  the  feeling  has  become 
one  of  the  most  potent  causes  of  racial  substitution  in  manufac- 
turing and  mining  occupations. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  advent  within  recent  years  of  the  south- 
ern and  eastern  European  into  American  industrial  life  has  been 
a  matter  of  most  serious  consequence  to  the  American  workman, 
and  Ahe  present-day  competition  of  the  same  racial  elements  is  of 
the  greatest  significance  to  the  native-born  and  older  immigrant 
wage-earners.  The  labor  unions  of  the  original  employees,  which 
should  have  been  among  the  greatest  factors  in  assimilating  in- 
dustrially the  recent  immigrant,  and  in  educating  him  to  Ameri- 
can standards,  in  some  industries — as  for  example  bituminous 
coal  mining  in  western  Pennsylvania,  or  the  cotton  mills  of  New 
England — have  been  completely  inundated,  and  wholly  or  par- 
tially destroyed  by  the  sudden  and  overwhelming  influx  of  south- 
ern and  eastern  Europeans.  In  other  industries,  where  the  compe- 
tition of  the  immigrant  of  recent  years  has  not  been  so  directly 
felt,  as  in  the  glass  industry,  where  skilled  workmen  were  for- 
merly necessary,  the  labor  organizations  are  being  weakened  and 
undermined  indirectly  in  other  ways. 

Everywhere  improved  machinery  and  mechanical  processes  are 
eliminating  the  element  of  skill  formerly  required  of  employees, 
and  are  making  it  possible  for  the  unskilled  foreign-born  work- 
man to  enter  occupations  which  have  hitherto  been  beyond  his 
qualifications,  because  they  required  previous  training  or  an  ex- 
tended apprenticeship.  Formerly,  in  order  to  be  pick-  or  hand- 
miner  a  number  of  years  of  training  was  necessary.  Now  a 
machine  does  the  work  and  unskilled  workmen  attend  it.  By 
means  of  the  automatic  loom  and  ring-spinning-frame  an  un- 
skilled immigrant  from  the  south  or  east  of  Europe  may  now 
become  a  proficient  weaver  or  spinner  within  a  few  months.  The 
former  highly  skilled  work  of  blowing  glass  bottles,  as  well  as 
window  and  plate  glass,  may  now  be  done  by  machinery  manned 
by  foreign-born  employees  who  have  been  in  the  United  States 
less  than  three  months  and  who,  before  their  employment,  had 
never  seen  a  glass  factory. 

In  all  industries,  the  immigrant  wage-earner,  through  the  elinv 
ination  of  the  requirements  of  skill  and  experience,  is  being 
brought  directly  into  contact  and  working  competition  with  the 
native  American  and  older  British  or  northern  European  wage- 


102  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

earner.  Unless  the  latter  can  do  something  to  elevate  the  stand- 
ards of  the  recent  immigrants,  their  competition  in  the  higher 
occupations  will  be  followed  by  as  serious  results  as  have  already 
attended  their  invasion  of  the  lower  grades  of  the  industrial  scale. 
Much  has  been  written  in  the  past  decade  relative  to  the  social 
and  political  effects  of  recent  immigration.  The  recent  exhaus- 
tive investigation  of  the  Federal  Commission,  however,  has 
revealed  the  fact  that  these  phases  of  the  problem  are  compara- 
tively of  little  import.  The  actual  problem  is  found  in  the  indus- 
trial effects  of  the  recent  alien  influx.  Existing  legislation  cannot 
settle  this  problem.  Its  solution  is  dependent  upon  a  change  in 
our  present  immigration  policy. 

World's  Work.    26:699-703.    October,  1913 

Our  Expensive  Cheap  Labor.    Arno  Dosch 

A  new  aspect  of  the  immigration  problem  is  opened  by  some 
remarkable  facts  that  recent  industrial  investigations  have 
brought  to  light.  These  investigations  seem  to  prove  two 
startling  propositions : 

(1)  That  the  immigrants  who  now  come  to  this  country   in 
the    largest    numbers    are    not   being    assimilated    but    are    being 
"lumped"  in  undigested  foreign  quarters  at  the  great  centres  of 
industry. 

(2)  That   "cheap   foreign   labor"  is   not  cheap,    even   to  the 
manufacturers  who  have  eagerly  encouraged  the  importation  of 
unskilled  foreigners  to  do  the  "muckers'  "  work.     This  class  of 
eastern    European   peasant   lacks    the    intelligence    and   initiative 
either  to  avoid  the  ordinary  dangers  of  rough  labor  or  to  keep 
in  efficient  health;  and  their  employers  have  to  pay  the  bills  for 
teaching  them. 

Of  forty  cases  of  lead-poisoning  found  in  the  lead  mills  of 
New  York  City  last  year  by  the  partial  survey  of  the  Factory 
Investigating  Commission,  the  disease  had  in  thirty-eight  cases 
attacked  men  of  foreign  birth.  Of  these,  twenty-nine  were  immi- 
grants from  eastern  Europe.  Considering  the  large  recent 
Slavish  immigration,  this  may  not  at  first  glance  seem  remark- 
able, but  it  takes  on  its  real  significance  when  it  is  understood 
that  half  the  employees  of  the  mills  are  of  American  birth  and 
have  worked  in  the  lead  industries  for  years.  Among  them 


ON  IMMIGRATION  103 

occurred  only  one-twentieth  of  the  cases  of  lead-poisoning.  The 
explanation  for  this  disparity  is  significant.  The  Americans 
'know  how  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Most  important  of  all, 
they  wash  their  hands  and  faces  when  they  stop  work.  The 
immigrants  from  eastern  Europe  do  not,  unless  some  one  stands 
over  them  and  makes  them  do  it. 

As  the  dangerous  trades  in  this  country  are  rapidly  falling 
into  the  hands  of  immigrants  of  this  type,  it  is  easy  to  see  why 
industrial  poisoning,  and  industrial  disease  in  general,  presents  a 
pressing  national  problem.  The  victims  are  chiefly  among  the 
most  ignorant  and  helpless  people.  The  danger  is  there  for  the 
others,  but  they  usually  have  sufficient  initiative  to  escape  it. 

Take  lead-poisoning,  which  we  hear  most  about.  Twenty 
years  ago  in  the  lead  mills  the  work  was  far  more  dangerous 
than  it  is  today,  but  the  amount  of  lead-poisoning  was  apparently 
less.  This  was  because,  so  the  old  lead  workers  say,  the.  class 
of  men  formerly  employed  understood  the  danger  and  took 
precautions  to  escape  it.  These  men  were  western  Europeans 
or  Americans.  Negroes  also  did  much  of  the  dangerous  work 
in  some  of  the  old  mills  and  were  looked  upon  as  practically 
immune  because  they  could  see  the  white  poisonous  flecks  on 
their  dark  skins  and  wash  them  off. 

I  have  cited  the  case  of  lead-poisoning  because  it  is  the  least 
complicated  of  industrial  diseases.  It  finds  its  victims  among 
otherwise  healthy  men  in  the  prime  of  life.  But  the  same  racial 
disparity  holds  true  in  all  the  dangerous  trades.  Those  who  are 
the  worst  sufferers  from  all  industrial  diseases  in  this  country 
are  immigrants  from  eastern  Europe.  If  it  were  not  for  the 
difficulty  of  making  them  look  out  for  themselves,  industrial 
disease  would  be  very  much  easier  to  handle. 

This  gives  the  problem  a  new  angle  from  which  it  has  not 
previously  been  considered.  It  shows  that,  without  letting  up  in 
the  fight  for  better  preventive  measures,  the  immigration  aspect 
must  not  be  neglected: 

A  million  of  these  people  are  entering  the  United  States 
every  year  to  be  mistreated  and  exploited,  to  become  helpless 
victims  of  industrial  accident  and  industrial  disease.  xlf  they 
come  through  their  experience  and  develop  into  American  citi- 
zens it  is  through  no  effort  of  their  own,  but  through  the 
enlightened  self-interest  of  their  employers.  Comparatively  few 
of  these  people  ever  get  more  than  a  glimmering  of  American 


104  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

ideals.  It  is  almost  too  much  to  expect  that  they  should.  Their 
children  are  quick  to  learn,  but  they,  children  themselves,  are 
slow  to  rise.  The  fact  that  they  are  in  this  country  means 
nothing  in  itself.  A  Slav  village  in  northern  Michigan  can  be 
just  as  benighted  as  it  was  in  Roumania.  Its  people  have  to  be 
made  to  eat  right  and  sleep  right.  Mothers  must  be  taught  the 
simplest  measures  for  protecting  the  health  of  their  babies. 
Grown  men  have  to  be  forced  to  wash  their  hands  to  prevent 
them  from  poisoning  themselves. 

Welfare  work  of  this  kind  can  be  done,  and  is  being  done. 
But  it  cannot  be  done  for  half  a  million  of  these  people  a  year. 
The  task  is  too  great.  The  result  is  that  the  American  people 
are  not  absorbing  these  immigrants  from  eastern  Europe.  To 
borrow  a  figure  from  cookery,  they  are  lumping.  They  have 
lumped  in  the  mines,  in  the  steel  mills,  in  all  the  dangerous 
trades.  And  the  lumps  grow  larger  by  half  a  million  a  year. 
Whole  sections  of  the  United  States  have  become  essentially 
foreign.  The  melting-pot  is  not  assimilating  the  raw  material 
that  is  being  dumped  into  it. 

In  these  unassimilated  lumps  the  individuals  are  forever 
shifting,  though  the  lumps  remain  hopelessly  un-American.  Dr. 
Alice  Hamilton,  who  surveyed  the  lead  industries  for  the  Illinois 
Commission  on  Occupational  Diseases,  found  that  from  10  to  40 
per  cent  changed  their  employers  every  pay-day.  Usually  they 
went  to  other  mills  for  similar  or  equally  dangerous  work.  One 
lead  mill  with  a  pay-roll  of  eighty  had  had  500  men  in  its 
employ  during  the  year.  There  was  no  knowing  how  many  of 
these  men  became  lead-poisoned.  There  was  hardly  an  oppor- 
tunity to  teach  them  care.  Many  of  them  went  from  one  lead 
mill  to  another  and  became  "leaded"  before  any  symptoms  were 
discovered. 

It  frequently  happens  in  the  lead  industries  that  one  of  these 
men  who  has  been  discharged  for  his  own  good  because  he  has 
shown  early  symptoms  of  lead  poisoning  has  gone  on  to  the 
next  mill  without  explaining  why  he  was  discharged  from  the 
last  one,  and,  when  discovered  there  to  be  a  lead  victim,  has 
sought  employment  at  the  third  or  fourth  mill  until  hopelessly 
poisoned.  To  discharge  a  man  when  lead-poisoning  begins  to 
show  on  him  may  not  be  the  right  way  to  meet  the  difficulty, 
but  it  is  at  least  better  than  to  keep  him  at  work  that  will  soon 
paralyze  him.  He  accepts  his  fate  with  animal-like  resignation, 


ON   IMMIGRATION  105 

ignores  the  warnings  of  the  company's  doctor,  and  heads  straight 
for  the  next  lead  mill.  He  does  it  because  he  does  not  know 
what  else  to  do.  There  is  no  advantage  in  either  blaming  or 
pitying  him.  He  belongs  to  one  of  the  great  unassimilated  lumps 
in  American  life. 

The  work  of  philanthropic  surveys,  examinations  into  the  con- 
dition of  workmen  by  large  corporations,  and,  particularly,  the 
spread  of  welfare  work  has  shown  the  urgent  necessity  for  dis- 
solving these  lumps  before  they  get  any  larger.  It  means 
restriction  of  immigration  down  to  the  point  where  it  will  not 
lump.  Two  forces  oppose  this — large  employers  of  common 
labor  and  all  those  who,  believing  that  liberty  should  be  denied 
none,  offer  strong  sentimental  objections  to  restriction  in  any 
form.  But  the  country  as  a  whole  is  waking  to  the  fact  that 
immigrants  from  eastern  Europe  and  southern  Europe  must  for 
their  own  protection  be  admitted  into  this  country  in  smaller 
numbers. 

The  chief  difficulty  in  the  way  of  restricting  immigration  lies 
in  the  need  for  common  labor.  The  United  States  Steel  Cor- 
poration could  have  used  last  year  10,000  more  Slavonians  than 
it  was  able  to  get.  Every  other  big  mining  and  milling  concern 
is  in  the  same  predicament.  But,  from  the  national  point  of 
view,  it  is  better  that  they  should  be.  They  are  devoting  their 
energies  toward  the  production  of  raw  material,  much  of  which 
is  shipped  out  of'  the  country  raw  or  in  only  the  first  stages  of 
manufacture.  The  less  raw  material  leaving  the  country  the 
better.  Common  labor  is  used  almost  exclusively  to  handle  it, 
so  the  less  common  labor  the  better  we  are  off  as  a  nation. 
Compare  the  industrial  condition  of  the  United  States  with  that 
of  Germany.  The  exports  that  leave  our  ports  show  only  one- 
fourth  the  skill  and  workmanship  and  consequent  value  of  the 
exports  that  leave  Germany.  In  Germany  common  labor  is 
becoming  steadily  scarcer.  In  ten  years,  it  is  said,  there  will 
be  not  an  untrained  man  in  the  German  Empire.  This  is  prac- 
tically true  today  of  Bavaria.  Common  labor  is  much  less  of  a 
necessity  than  it  is  supposed  to  be.  But  it  has  always  been 
plentiful  in  this  country,  so  industry  has  come  to  count  on  it. 
But  it  could  get  along  better  with  less.  Scarcity  of  labor  inevit- 
ably necessitates  the  use  of  labor-saving  devices. 

If  common  labor  had  not  been  so  plentiful  occupational  dis- 
ease would  never  have  become  so  serious  a  problem.  In  the 


106  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

first  place,  when  men  are  scarce  employers  take  care  not  to  lose 
any,  but,  more  important  still,  machinery  is  then  substituted  for 
men  in  the  dangerous  trades.  The  lead  industry  has  given  an 
example  of  this.  It  began,  for  reasons  of  economy,  substituting 
enclosed  machinery  for  the  dangerous  work  of  separating  white 
lead  from  the  scraps  of  metallic  lead  which  had  failed  to  corrode. 
This  proved  such  a  saving  both  in  labor  and  material  that  in  the 
best  mills  entirely  enclosed  machinery  handles  the  lead  in  all  the 
formerly  dangerous  transitions  from  the  drying  pans  to  the  lead- 
in-oil  paste.  This  has  done  away  with  more  labor  susceptible  to 
industrial  disease.  The  latest  labor-saving  device  is  a  crane 
which  has  eliminated  the  dusty  wheel-barrows  that  counted  their 
victims  by  the  hundreds.  This  has  also  proved  such  an  economy 
that  the  lead  companies  are  experimenting  with  mechanical 
means  for  stripping  the  beds  where  the  white  lead  is  formed. 
Portable  exhausts  are  in  use  in  some  lead  mills,  but  the  whole 
operation  is  still  dangerous  and  clumsy.  When  that  problem  is 
solved,  lead  will  be  produced  much  more  cheaply,  lead  mills  will 
be  perfectly  safe,  and  the  amount  of  common  labor  will  be  cut 
at  least  in  two.  The  devices  already  in  use  by  the  National  Lead 
Company  have  in  the  last  ten  years  cut  down  the  necessary 
common  labor  by  25  per  cent. 

At  least  an  equal  saving  could  be  made  in  industry  as  a 
whole  by  labor-saving  devices  now  in  existence.  But  so  long  as 
men  can  be  had  to  do  the  work  as  cheaply  as  machinery  there 
is  no  incentive  to  make  the  investment.  If  immigration  were 
checked  sufficiently  to  make  common  labor  less  available,  this 
incentive  would  then  bring  about  so  rapid  a  substitution  of 
labor-saving  machinery  that  the  demand  for  common  labor  would 
fall  off  and,  in  its  place,  there  would  arise  a  greater  demand  for 
skilled  labor. 


American  Economic  Review.    1:753-65.   December,  1911 
Immigration  and  Crises.     Henry  P.  Fairchild 

Amid  all  the  diverse  views  on  the  various  aspects  of  the 
immigration  problem,  there  is  coming  to  be  a  practical  unanimity 
of  opinion  on  one  fundamental  proposition — namely,  that  im- 
migration today  is  essentially  an  economic  phenomenon.  How- 
ever strongly  the  desire  for  political  or  religious  liberty,  or  the 


ON  IMMIGRATION  107 

escape  from  tyranny,  may  have  operated  in  the  past  to  stimu- 
late emigration  from  foreign  countries,  the  one  great  motive  of 
the  present  immigrant  is  the  desire  to  better  his  enonomic  situa- 
tion. Even  in  cases  where  political  and  religious  oppression  still 
persists,  it  usually  expresses  itself  through  economic  disabilities. 
The  great  attraction  of  the  United  States  for  the  modern  im- 
migrant lies  in  the  economic  advantages  which  it  has  to  offer. 
The  latest  authoritative  recognition  of  this  fact  is  that  given 
by  the  Immigration  Commission,  which  emphasizes  it  in 
numerous  places  in  its  report.  If,  then,  immigration  is  so  closely 
bound  up  with  the  industrial  situation  in  this  country,  it  would 
seem  that  there  should  be  some  relation  between  immigration 
and  the  industrial  depressions  or  crises  which  are  such  a  charac- 
terestic  feature  of  our  economic  life.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this 
paper  to  seek  to  determine  what  this  relation  is.  One  aspect  of 
the  matter  is  perfectly  obvious  and  has  been  thoroughly  re- 
cognized  for  a  long  time,  namely,  that  the  volume  of  the  im- 
migration current  is  regulated  by  the  industrial  prosperity  of 
this  country.  A  period  of  good  times  brings  with  it  a  large 
volume  of  immigration,  while  hard  times  reduce  the  current  to  a 
minimum. 

Another  fact  which  is  equally  obvious,  and  which  has  been 
given  much  prominence  in  recent  years,  is  that  a  period  of  de- 
pression in  this  country  is  followed  by  a  large  exodus  of  aliens. 
The  popular  interpretation  of  this  fact  is  that  this  emigration 
movement  serves  to  mitigate  the  evils  of  the  crisis  by  removing 
a  large  part  of  the  surplus  laborers,  until  returning  prosperity 
creates  a  demand  for  them  again.  The  Italian,  who  displays 
the  greatest  mobility  in  this  regard,  has  been  called  the  safety 
valve  of  our  labor  market.  Thus  the  movements  of  our  alien 
population  are  supposed  to  be  an  alleviating  force  as  regards 
crises.  Up  till  1907  no  official  records  were  kept  of  departing 
aliens,  and  no  exact  information  as  to  their  number  was  avail- 
able. But  beginning  with  July  of  that  year,  the  reports  of  the 
Commissioner-General  of  Immigration  have  furnished  these 
figures,  and  the  recent  reports  contain  tables  almost  as  com- 
plete for  departing  as  for  arriving  aliens.  Futhermore,  within 
this  period  the  United  States  has  experienced,  and  recovered 
from,  a  severe  depression,  so  that  the  material  is  at  hand  for  a 
concrete  study  of  the  matter  in  question. 

The  monthly  average  of  arrivals  during  the  first  six  months 


io8  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

of  1907  was  a  high  one.  Following  a  large  immigration  during 
the  last  six  months  of  the  preceding  year,  this  made  the  fiscal 
year  ending  June  30,  1907,  the  record  for  immigration  in  the 
history  of  the  country.  For  the  next  four  months  the  stream 
of  immigration  continued  high,  considering  the  season,  and  the 
number  of  departures  was  moderate.  Early  in  October,  how- 
ever, there  were  signs  of  disturbance  in  the  New  York  Stock 
Exchange.  On  the  i6th  there  was  a  crash  in  the  market,  and 
within  a  week  the  panic  had  become  general.  It  reached  its 
height  on  October  24,  and  continued  for  many  weeks  after. 
The  response  of  the  alien  population  to  this  disturbance  was  al- 
most immediate,  and  manifested  itself  first  in  the  emigration 
movement.  In  November  the  number  of  departures  almost 
doubled.  But  the  immigrants  who  were  on  the  way  could  not  be 
stopped,  and  in  spite  of  the  large  exodus,  there  was  a  net  gain  of 
38,207  during  the  month.  The  next  month,  December,  however, 
saw  a  marked  decrease  in  the  stream  of  arrivals,  which,  accom- 
panied by  a  departure  of  aliens  almost  as  great  as  in  November, 
resulted  in  a  net  decrease  in  population  of  11,325  for  the  month. 
During  the  first  six  months  of  1908  the  number  of  arrivals  was 
small,  and  the  departures  numerous,  so  that,  with  the  exception 
of  March,  each  month  shows  a  net  loss  in  population.  During 
July  the  number  of  departures  began  to  approach  the  normal 
(compare  the  months  in  1908  with  1907  and  1910),  but  the 
arrivals  were  so  few  that  there  was  still  a  decrease  for  the 
months  of  July  and  August.  In  September,  1908,  the  balance 
swung  the  other  way,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present  every 
month  has  shown  a  substantial  increase  in  population  through 
the  movement  of  aliens. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  period  during  which  the  number  of 
alien  laborers  in  the  United  States  was  decreasing  was  confined 
to  the  months  December  1907  to  August  1908  inclusive.  By 
the  end  of  July,  1908,  the  effects  of  the  crisis  were  practically 
over  as  far  as  departures  are  concerned.  It  is  evident,  then, 
that  the  effects  of  the  crisis  on  emigration  were  immediate,  but 
not  of  very  long  duration.  During  the  months  of  November 
and  December,  1907,  when  the  distress  was  the  keenest,  there 
were  still  large  numbers  of  aliens  arriving.  But  when  the 
stream  of  immigration  was  once  checked,  it  remained  low  for 
some  time,  and  it  was  not  until  about  January,  1909,  that  it 
returned  to  what  may  be  considered  a  normal  figure.  The 


ON   IMMIGRATION  109 

reasons  for  this  are  obvious.  The  stream  of  immigration  is  a 
long  one,  and  its  sources  are  remote.  It  takes  a  long  time 
for  retarding  influences  in  America  to  be  thoroughly  felt  on 
the  other  side.  The  principal  agency  in  checking  immigration 
at  its  source  is  the  returning  immigrant  himself,  who  brings 
personal  information  of  the  unfortunate  conditions  in  the 
United  States.  This  takes  some  time.  But  when  the  potential 
immigrants  are  once  discouraged  as  to  the  outlook  across  the 
ocean,  they  require  some  positive  assurance  of  better  times 
before  they  will  start  out  again. 

Now  what  catches  the  public  eye  in  such  an  epoch  as  this, 
is  the  large  number  of  departures.  We  are  accustomed  to 
immense  numbers  of  arrivals  and  we  think  little  about  that 
side  of  it.  But  heavy  emigration  is  a  phenomenon,  and  ac- 
cordingly we  hear  much  about  how  acceptably  our  alien  popu- 
lation serves  to  accommodate  the  supply  of  labor  to  the  demand. 
But  if  we  stop  to  add  up  the  monthly  figures,  we  find  that  for 
the  entire  period  after  the  crisis  of  1907,  when  emigration 
exceeded  immigration,  the  total  decrease  in  alien  population 
was  only  124,124 — scarcely  equal  to  the  immigration  of  a  single 
month  during  a  fairly  busy  season.  This  figure  'is  almost 
infinitesimal  compared  to  the  total  mass  of  the  American  work- 
ing people,  or  to  the  amount  of  unemployment  at  a  normal 
time,  to  say  nothing  of  a  crisis.1  It  is  thus  evident  that  the 
importance  of  our  alien  population  as  an  alleviating  force  at 
the  time  of  a  crisis  has  been  vastly  exaggerated.  The  most  that 
can  be  said  for  it  is  that  it  has  a  very  trifling  palliative  effect. 

The  really  important  relation  between  immigration  and  crises 
is  much  less  conspicuous  but  much  more  far-reaching.  It  rests 
upon  the  nature  and  underlying  causes  of  crises  in  this  country. 
These  are  fairly  well  understood  at  the  present  time.  A  typical 
crisis  may  be  said  to  be  caused  by  speculative  over-production,  or 
over-speculative  production.  Some  prefer  to  call  the  trouble 
under-consumption,  which  is  much  the  same  thing  looked  at  from 
another  point  of  view.  Professor  Irving  Fisher  has  furnished  a 
convenient  and  logical  outline  of  the  ordinary  course  of  affairs.2 
In  a  normal  business  period  some  slight  disturbance,  such  as  an 

1  Mr.  F.  H.  Streightoff  shows  that  at  the  time  the  census  of  1900  was 
taken,  2,634,336,  or  n.i  per  cent  of  all  males  over  ten  years  of  age  who 
were  engaged  in  gainful  occupations  in  the  United  States  were  unemployed 
three  months  or  more  during  the  year.  See  "Standard  of  Living,"  p.  35. 

-  Fisher,  "The  Purchasing  Power  of  Money,"  p.  58  seq. 


i  io  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

increase  in  the  quantity  of  gold,  causes  prices  to  rise.  A  rise  in 
prices  is  accompanied  by  increased  profits  for  business  men, 
because  the  rate  of  interest  on  the  borrowed  capital  which  they 
use  in  their  business  fails  to  increase  at  a  corresponding  ratio. 
If  prices  are  rising  at  the  rate  of  2  per  cent  annually,  a  nominal 
rate  of  interest  of  6  per  cent  is  equivalent  to  an  actual  rate  of 
only  about  4  per  cent.  Hence,  doing  business  on  borrowed 
capital  becomes  very  profitable,  and  there  is  an  increased  demand 
for  loans. 

This  results  in  an  increase  of  the  deposit  currency,  which  is 
accompanied  by  a  further  rise  in  prices.  The  nominal  rate  of 
interest  rises  somewhat,  but  not  sufficiently,  and  prices  tend  to 
outstrip  it  still  further.  Thus  the  process  is  repeated,  until  the 
large  profits  of  business  lead  to  a  disproportionate  production  of 
goods  for  anticipated  future  demand,  and  a  vast  over-extension 
of  credit.  But  this  cycle  cannot  repeat  itself  indefinitely.  Though 
the  rate  of  interest  rises  tardily,  it  rises  progressively,  and 
eventually  catches  up  with  the  rise  in  prices,  owing  to  the 
necessity  which  banks  feel  of  maintaining1  a  reasonable  ratio 
between  loans  and  reserves.  Other  causes  operate  with  this  to 
produce  the  same  result.  The  consequence  is  that  business  men 
find  themselves  unable  to  renew  their  loans  at  the  old  rate,  and 
hence  some  of  them  are  unable  to  meet  their  obligations,  and 
fail.  The  failure  of  a  few  firms  dispels  the  atmosphere  of  public 
confidence  which  is  essential  to  extended  credit.  Creditors  begin 
to  demand  cash  payment  for  their  loans ;  there  is  a  growing 
demand  for  currency;  the  rate  of  interest  soars;  and  the  old 
familiar  symptoms  of  a  panic  appear.  In  this  entire  process 
the  blame  falls,  according  to  Professor  Fisher,  primarily  upon 
the  failure  of  the  rate  of  interest  to  rise  promptly  in  proportion 
to  the  rise  in  prices.  If  the  forces  which  give  inertia  to  the 
rate  of  interest  were  removed,  so  that  the  rate  of  interest  would 
fluctuate  readily  with  prices,  the  great  temptation  to  expand 
business  unduly  during  a  period  of  rising  prices  would  be 
removed.  It  may  well  be  conceived  that  there  are  other  factors, 
besides  the  discrepancy  between  the  nominal  and  real  rates  of 
interest,  that  give  to  business  a  temporary  or  specious  profit- 
ableness, and  tend  to  encourage  speculative  over-production.  But 
the  influence  of  the  rate  of  interest  resembles  so  closely  that 
resulting  trom  immigration,  that  Professor  Fisher's  explanation 
is  of  especial  service  in  the  present  discussion. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  in 

The  rate  of  interest  represents  the  payment  which  the  entre- 
preneur makes  for  one  of  the  great  factors  of  productions — 
capital.  The  failure  of  this  remuneration  to  keep  pace  with  the 
pric.e  of  commodities  in  general  leads  to  excessive  profits  and 
over-production.  The  payment  which  the  entrepreneur  makes  for 
one  of  the  other  factors  of  production — labor — is  represented  by 
wages.  If  wages  fail  to  rise  along  with  prices  the  effect  on 
business,  while  not  strictly  analogous,  is  very  similar  to  that 
produced  by  the  slowly  rising  rate  of  interest.  The  entrepreneur 
is  relieved  of  the  necessity  of  sharing  any  of  his  excessive  profits 
with  labor,  just  as  in  the  other  case  he  is  relieved  from  sharing 
them  with  capital.  It  would  probably  be  hard  to  prove  that  the 
increased  demand  for  labor  results  in  further  raising  prices  in 
general,  as  an  increased  demand  for  capital  results  in  raising 
prices  by  increasing  the  deposit  currency.  But  if  the  demand  for 
labor  results  in  increasing  the  number  of  laborers  in  the  country, 
thereby  increasing  the  demand  for  commodities,  it  may  very 
well  result  in  raising  the  prices  of  commodities  as  distinguished 
from  labor,  which  is  just  as  satisfactory  to  the  entrepreneur. 
This  is  exaetly  what  is  accomplished  when  unlimited  immigra- 
tion is  allowed.  As  soon  as  the  conditions  of  business  produce 
an  increased  demand  for  labor,  this  demand  is  met  by  an 
increased  number  of  laborers,  produced  by  immigration. 

Whether  or  not  money  wages  rose  as  fast  as  prices  in  the 
years  from  1900  to  1907,  one  thing  is  certain,  they  did  not  rise 
any  faster.  That  is  to  say,  if  real  wages  did  not  actually  fall, 
they  assuredly  did  not  rise.  But  the  welfare  of  the  country 
requires  that,  in  the  years  when  business  is  moving  toward  a 
crisis,  wages  should  rise ;  not  only  money  wages,  but  real  wages. 
What  is  needed  is  some  check  on  the  unwarranted  activity  of  the 
entrepreneurs,  which  will  make  them  stop  and  consider  whether 
the  apparently  bright  business  outlook  rests  on  sound  and  per- 
manent conditions,  or  is  illusory  and  transient.  If  their  large 
profits  are  legitimate  and  enduring,  they  should  be  forced  to 
share  a  part  of  them  with  the  laborer.  If  not,  the  fact  should 
be  impressed  upon  them.  We  have  seen  that  the  rate  of  interest 
fails  to  act  as  an  efficient  check.  Then  the  rate  of  wages  should 
do  it.  And  if  the  entrepreneurs  were  compelled  to  rely  on  the 
existing  labor  supply  in  their  own  country,  the  rate  of  wages 
would  do  it.  Business  expands  by  increasing  the  amount  of 
labor  utilized,  as  well  as  the  amount  of  capital.  If  the  increased 


ii2  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

labor  supply  could  be  secured  only  from  the  people  already 
resident  in  the  country,  the  increased  demand  would  have  to 
express  itself  in  an  increased  wage,  and  the  entrepreneur  would 
be  forced  to  pause  and  reflect.  But  in  the  United  States  we 
have  adopted  the  opposite  policy.  In  the  vast  peasant  population 
of  Europe  there  is  an  inexhaustible  reservoir  of  labor,  only 
waiting  a  signal  from  this  side  to  enter  the  labor  market — to 
enter  it,  not  with  a  demand  for  the  high  wage  that  the  business 
situation  justifies,  but  ready  to  take  any  wage  that  will  be 
offered,  just  so  it  is  a  little  higher  than  the  pittance  to  which 
they  are  accustomed  at  home.  And  we  allow  them  to  come, 
without  any  restrictions  whatever  as  to  numbers.  Thus  wages 
are  kept  from  rising,  and  immigration  becomes  a  powerful 
factor,  tending  to  intensify  and  augment  the  unhealthy,  oscilla- 
tory character  of  our  industrial  life.  It  was  not  by  mere  chance 
that  the  panic  year  of  1907  was  the  record  year  in  immigration. 

Against  this  point  of  view  it  may  be  argued  that  tlie  legiti- 
mate expansion  of  business  in  this  country  requires  the  presence 
of  the  immigrant.  But  if  business  expansion  is  legitimate  and 
permanent,  resting  on  lasting  favorable  conditions,  it  .will  express 
itself  in  a  high  wage  scale,  persisting  over  a  long  period  of  time. 
And  the  demand  so  expressed,  will  be  met  by  an  increase  of 
native  offspring,  whose  parents  are  reaping  the  benefit  of  the 
high  standard  of  living.  A  permanent  shortage  of  the  labor 
supply  is  as  abhorrent  to  nature  as  a  vacuum.  Expansion  of 
any  other  kind  than  this  ought  to  be  hampered,  not  gratified. 

There  is  one  other  way  in  which  immigration,  as  it  exists 
at  present,  influences  crises.  In  considering  this,  it  will  be  well 
to  regard  the  crisis  from  the  other  point  of  view — as  a  phe- 
nomenon of  under-consumption.  Practically  all  production  at 
the  present  day  is  to  supply  an  anticipated  future  demand. 
There  can  be  no  over-production  unless  the  actual  demand  fails 
to  equal  that  anticipated.  This  is  under-consumption.  Now  the 
great  mass  of  consumers  in  the  United  States  is  composed  of 
wage  earners.  Their  consuming  power  depends  upon  their  wages. 
In  so  far  as  immigration  lowers  wages  in  the  United  States,  or 
prevents  them  from  rising,  it  reduces  consuming  power,  and 
hence  is  favorable  to  the  recurrence  of  periods  of  under- 
consumption. It  is  not  probable,  to  be  sure,  that  a  high  wage 
scale  in  itself  could  prevent  crises,  as  the  entrepreneurs  would 
base  their  calculations  on  the  corresponding  consuming1  power, 


ON  IMMIGRATION  113 

just  as  they  do  at  present.  But  a  high  wage  scale  carries  with  it 
the  possibility  of  saving,  and  an  increase  of  accumulations  among 
the  common  people.  It  is  estimated  at  the  present  time  that  half 
of  the  industrial  people  of  the  United  States  are  unable  to  save 
anything.  This  increase  in  saving  would  almost  inevitably  have 
some  effect  upon  the  results  of  crises,  though  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  it  is  very  difficult  to  predict  just  what  this  effect 
would  be.  One  result  that  might  naturally  be  expected  to  follow 
would  be  that  the  laboring  classes  would  take  the  opportunity 
of  the  period  of  low  prices  immediately  following  the  crisis  to 
invest  some  of  their  savings  in  luxuries  which  hitherto  they  had 
not  felt  able  to  afford.  This  would  increase  the  demand  'for  the 
goods  which  manufacturers  are  eager  to  dispose  of  at  almost 
any  price,  and  would  thereby  mitigate  the  evils  of  the  depressed 
market.  It  is  probably  true  that  the  immigrant,  under  the  same 
conditions,  will  save  more  out  of  a  given  wage,  than  the  native, 
so  that  it  might  seem  that  an  alien  laboring  body  would  have 
more  surplus  available  for  use  at  the  time  of  a  crisis  than  a 
native  class.  But  the  immigrant  sends  a  very  large  proportion 
of  his  savings  to  friends  and  relatives  in  the  old  country,  or 
deposits  it  in  foreign  institutions,  so  that  it  is  not  available  at 
such  a  time.  Moreover,  our  laboring  class  is  not  as  yet  wholly 
foreign,  and  the  native  has  to  share  approximately  the  same 
wage  as  the  alien.  Without  the  immense  body  of  alien  labor,  we 
should  have  a  class  of  native  workers  with  a  considerably  higher 
wage  scale,  and  a  large  amount  of  savings  accumulated  in  this 
country,  and  available  when  needed. 

Congressional  Record.     49:666-9.     December  14,  1912 

Immigration.     William    Kent 

It  is  my  desire  to  submit  to  this  body,  in  short  measure,  some 
of  the  means  whereby  the  introduction  of  a  vast  number  of  aliens 
tends  to  prevent  our  progress  toward  real  democracy. 

When  we  consider  the  question  of  Oriental  immigration  we 
find  our  people  practically  united  at  the  present  time  as  against 
the  introduction  of  any  more  race  problems  into  our  country. 
Entirely  outside  of  any  economic  argument  we  are  convinced 
that  those  whose  blood  may  not  mingle  with  ours  should  not 
be  admitted,  for  this  must  necessarily  upset  our  democratic 


ii4  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

scheme.  Races  that  can  not  intermingle  must  necessarily  find 
themselves  in  strata,  with  the  superior  race  superimposed  on  the 
inferior.  There  can  be  no  complete  democracy  under  such 
conditions,  as  has  been  amply  proven  in  the  South. 

Let  us  consider  the  economic  side  of  the  question,  as  apart 
from  the  vastly  important  social  questions.  We  have  heard  a 
great  deal  about  protected  American  industries  that  are  being 
protected  for  the  benefit  of  American  labor,  the  utter  fallacy  of 
which  claim  has  been  proven  by  the  facts  produced  in  the  steel 
inquiry  and  in  the  investigation  of  the  strike  at  Lawrence,  not  to 
mention  the  story  of  the  continuing  breakdown  of  livable  con- 
ditions in  the  coal-mining  industry  of  Pennsylvania  and  other 
states.  The  industries  most  highly  protected  have  been  the  most 
prompt  to  avail  themselves  of  free  trade  in  labor  and  the  result 
has  been  the  creation  of  many  industrial  hells. 

History  goes  to  show  that  it  was  to  overcome  the  "benevo- 
lent" assimilation  of  continually  lower  grades  of  foreign  labor 
by  protected  industries  that  the  contract-labor  law  was  passed. 
Mr.  Carnegie  and  his  protection  compeers  were  rapidly  getting 
to  the  bottom  of  the  human  scale,  were  getting  workmen  who 
would  accept  lower  and  lower  standards  of  living,  and  who 
through  illiteracy  were  slow  to  realize  why  and  how  they  were 
abused.  Just  as'  fast  as  the  American  atmosphere  caused  a 
demand  for  more  humane  conditions,  men  of  growing  intelligence 
were  replaced  by  others  who  lacked  the  enlightenment  to  demand 
of  a  great  and  prosperous  country  a  fair  share  of  the  product 
of  their  toil.  The  necessity  for  the  contract-labor  law  is  the  same 
necessity  that  confronts  us  in  the  general  question  of  exclusion 
of  immigration  at  the  present  moment.  At  a  time  when  labor 
is  struggling  through  organization  and  agitation  to  increase  the 
welfare  of  the  workers  in  the  various  trades,  a  continuing  influx 
of  people  who  do  not  understand  the  language  nor  appreciate 
nor  demand  the  standard  that  we  are  trying  to  reach,  comes  in 
to  break  down  the  structure  as  fast  as  it  is  erected. 

We  arc  constantly  told  of  the  ever-increasing  demand  for 
cheap  or  common  labor.  Our  industrial  corporations  and  our 
railroads  are  continually  pointing  out  the  need  of  obtaining  people 
who  will  work  at  wages  that  will  not  support  an  American 
family  on  any  rational  basis.  While  we  are  striving  to  raise 
all  the  people  of  the  country  to  a  plane  where  they  may  live 
under  reasonable  American  conditions,  the  work  is  broken  down 


ON   IMMIGRATION  115 

by  continuing  immigration.  Here  is  a  conflict  that  can  not  be 
reconciled.  Either  we  must  abandon  democratic  ideals,  or  else 
we  must  stop  the  influx  of  those  who  make  the  accomplishment 
of  these  ideals  impossible. 

We  are  always  hearing  and  telling  of  the  good  old  pioneer 
times  when  people  attended  to  their  own  wants.  Whoever  heard 
about  the  dirty  work  of  those  days?  The  work  that  had  to  be 
done  was  done  by  the  best  people  in  the  community  and  was 
not  regarded  as  dirty  work.  We  never  heard  of  vast  armies  of 
private  servants  in  those  days,  nor  of  butlers  nor  buttons,  nor 
footmen.  If  every  one  in  the  community  had  not  been  profit- 
ably engaged,  the  result  would  have  been  hunger  and  suffering. 
Just  as  long  as  we  can  import  footmen  and  butlers  and  buttons, 
occupations  which  no  pioneer  would  accept,  some  of  us  insist 
upon  so  doing  and  would  bewail  the  exclusion  of  persons  willing 
to  take  up  unnecessary  tasks. 

In  passing  it  is  well  to  take  note  of  the  fact  that  some  of  this 
work  that  Americans  will  not  do  is  really  dirty  work  which 
ought  not  to  be  done ;  that  there  is  a  vast  amount  of  personal 
service  which  ought  to'  be  obviated,  and  that  persons  employed 
in  such  unnecessary  labors  must  be  supported  by  those  produc- 
tively employed. 

There  is  no  reason  why  the  work  of  railway  building  and 
track  laying,  the  work  of  section  hands,  of  street  laying,  or 
sewer  building  should  be  considered  dirty  work  or  below  an 
American  standard.  These  tasks  are  certainly  not  harder  or 
more  disagreeable  than  that  of  the  mining  of  precious  metals, 
in  which  thousands  of  native  Americans  are  engaged.  If,  first 
of  all,  employers  insist  upon  an  inadequate  wage  scale,  and  then 
the  work  is  called  dirty  work  and  deemed  socially  beneath  any 
but  newly  arrived  immigrants,  we  may  be  sure  that  it  is  we 
who  have  created  a  demand  for  conditions  that  go  to  destroy 
democracy — conditions  that  call  for  continuing  importations  of 
people  willing  to  live  below  what  we  consider  an  American 
standard — and,  with  this  constant  influx,  all  our  efforts  to  estab- 
lish social  and  economic  justice  come  to  naught. 

The  protected  sugar  industry  in  the  western  part  of  our 
country  and  also  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  is  a  remarkable  example 
of  this  insistence  upon  an  inadequate  wage  scale  as  a  prerequisite 
to  employment.  We  find  here  that  the  tariff  privilege  works 
social  damage  as  well  as  economic  injustice. 


ii6  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

In  whose  interest,  from  our  own  American  standpoint,  is  the 
cry  raised  for  ever-increasing  multitudes  of  people  that  do  not 
understand  our  institutions,  that  can  not  learn  nor  appreciate 
their  own  rights  until  a  vast  amount  of  unpaid  labor  is  extorted 
from  them  ? 

First  of  all,  we  find  the  trans- Atlantic  steamship  companies 
making  their  rake-off  from  the  transportation  business.  It  has 
jDeen  abundantly  shown  how  vigorous  they  are  in  their  campaign 
for  assisted  immigration.  There  follow  the  railroads,  who  can 
hardly  be  brought  to  realize  that  track  laying  can  be  done  by  the 
inhabitants  already  in  the  country  if  only  adequate  wages  are 
paid.  I  have  already  noted  the  wails  of  the  protected  sugar 
industry  for  any  sort  of  labor  that  will  work  cheap.  Those 
holding  land  for  speculation  have  an  obvious  interest  in  filling 
the  country  up  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

Everywhere  we  cast  our  eyes  it  is  the  privileged  that  have  an 
interest  in  obtaining  cheap  labor  in  forcing  the  increase  in  popu- 
lation. We  must  ultimately  define  privilege  as  any  system 
whereby  one  man  may  secure  an  unfair  proportion  of  the  product 
of  another's  toil. 

The  argument  I  have  heard  on  the  floor  of  this  house,  the 
argument  that  I  have  heard  from  my  earliest  recollections  of 
the  discussions  of  this  immigration  question,  is  that  the  for- 
eigners who  come  in  to  accept  the  so-called  menial  occupations, 
to  do  the  so-called  dirty  work,  and  thereby  displace  the  Ameri- 
cans engaged  in  these  pursuits,  force  their  predecessors  into 
higher  positions  of  employment.  This  may  be  well  upheld  as 
an  aristocratic  argument  but  never  as  a  democratic  one.  We 
are  striving  to  establish  justice  all  down  the  scale.  All  of  us 
can  not  be  statesmen,  nor  capitalists,  superintendents,  nor  even 
section  foremen,  nor  mine  bosses.  If  this  proposition  of  pushing 
our  own  people  up  be  analyzed  clear  through  it  will  be  shown 
that  it  has  pushed  out  at  the  financial  top  the  parasites  known 
as  the  idle  rich ;  that  all  along  the  line  it  has  provided  an  existence 
for  those  that  prey  upon  the  unpaid  toil  of  the  immigrants, 
whether  he  be  capitalist,  padrone,  or  employment-agency  shark. 

It  should  be  our  aim  to  make  every  necessary  employment  a 
fit  employment  for  our  own  people,  one  which  we  would  not  feel 
that  our  own  children  were  disgraced  in  pursuing  any  more  than 
our  pioneer  ancestors  felt  disgraced  by  the  tasks  they  were  forced 
to  perform  in  simpler  times. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  117 

Taking  the  question  from  another  angle,  no  one  can  doubt  but 
that  the  relative  welfare  of  our  country  has  been  due  to  its 
natural  resources,  that  our  opportunites  have  largely  come  from 
the  possibility  of  our  people  scattering  out  into  pioneer  conditions 
and  taking  up  lands  in  the  West.  The  energetic  have  usually  been 
able  to  better  their  condition  by  taking  on  the  pioneer  life.  There 
was  a  time  when,  as  a  nation  with  too  much  land  for  the  popula- 
tion and  weak  from  our  smallness  of  numbers,  we  did  well  to 
invite  the  able  and  energetic  to  share  with  us.  But  the  situ- 
ation is  largely  changed  in  this  respect. 

It  is  hard  to  find  good  public  land  where  homesteads  may  be 
established,  and  if  the  unwholesome  congestion  of  our  cities  were 
relieved  by  placing  the  surplus  population  on  the  land  the 
accommodations  would  prove  still  narrower. 

The  time  has  come  when  under  existing  conditions  increasing 
our  population  is  simply  watering  the  capital  stock  of  the  nation, 
granting  to  each  person  less  and  not  more  of  the  common  wealth. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  under  different  social  and  economic  con- 
ditions our  country  could  support  vastly  more  people  in  a  higher 
average  of  social  well-being  than  it  does  at  the  present  time,  but 
until  we  provide  conditions  different  from  those  that  now  obtain 
increases  of  population  simply  lead  to  greater  privilege  on  one 
side  and  greater  want  on  the  other. 

Century.   87:392-8.    January,  1914 
Immigrants  in  Politics.     Edward  A.  Ross 

It  is  in  the  cities  with  many  naturalized  foreigners  or  en- 
franchised negroes  that  the  vice  interests  have  had  the  freest 
hand  in  exploiting  and  degrading  the  people.  These  foreigners 
have  no  love  for  vice,  but  unwittingly  they  become  the  corner- 
stone of  the  system  that  supports  it.  The  city  that  has  had  the 
most  and  the  rawest  foreign-born  voters  is  the  city  of  the  longest 
and  closest  partnership  of  the  police  with  vice.  Tammany  Hall 
first  gained  power  by  its  "voting  gangs"  of  foreigners,  and  ever 
since  its  old  guard  has  been  the  ignorant,  naturalized  immigrants. 
Exposed  again  and  again,  and  thought  to  be  shattered,  Tam- 
many has  survived  all  shocks,  because  its  supply  of  raw  material 
has  never  been  cut  off.  Not  the  loss  of  its  friends  has  ever 
defeated  it;  only  the  union  of  its  foes.  The  only  things  it  fears 


n8  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

are  those  that  bore  from  within — social  settlements,  social 
centers,  the  quick  intelligence  of  the  immigrant  Hebrew,  stricter 
naturalization,  and  restriction  of  immigration. 

In  every  American  city  with  a  large,  pliant  foreign  vote  have 
appeared  the  boss,  the  machine,  and  the  Tammany  way.  Once 
the  machine  gets  a  grip  on  the  situation,  it  broadens  and 
intrenches  its  power  by  intimidation  at  the  polls,  ballot  frauds, 
vote  purchase,  saloon  influence,  and  the  support  of  the  vicious 
and  criminal.  But  its  tap-root  is  the  simple-minded  foreigner 
or  negro,  and  without  them  no  lasting  vicious  political  control 
has  shown  itself  in  any  of  our  cities. 

The  machine  in  power  uses  the  foreigner  to  keep  in  power. 
The  Italian  who  opens  an  ice-cream  parlor  has  to  have  a  victual- 
er's  license,  and  he  can  keep  this  license  only  by  delivering 
Italian  votes.  The  Polish  saloon-keeper  loses  his  liquor  license 
if  he  fails  to  line  up  his  fellow-countrymen  for  the  local  machine. 
The  politician  who  can  get  dispensations  for  the  foreigners  who 
want  their  beer  on  a  Sunday  picnic  is  the  man  who  attracts  the 
foreign  vote.  Thus,  until  they  get  their  eyes  open  and  see  how 
they  are  being  used,  the  foreigners  constitute  an  asset  of  the 
established  political  machine,  neutralizing  the  anti-machine  bal- 
lots of  an  equal  number  of  indignant  American  voters. 

The  saloon  is  often  an  independent  swayer  of  the  foreign 
vote.  The  saloon-keeper  is  interested  in  fighting  all  legal  regula- 
tion of  his  own  business,  and  of  other  businesses — gambling, 
dance-halls,  and  prostitution — which  stimulate  drinking.  If 
"blue"  laws  are  on  the  statute-book,  these  interests  may  combine 
to  seat  in  the  mayor's  chair  a  man  pledged  not  to  enforce  them. 
Even  if  the  saloon-keeper  has  no  political  ax  of  his  own  to  grind, 
his  masters,  the  brewers,  will  insist  that  he  get  out  the  vote  for 
the  benefit  of  themselves  or  their  friends.  Since  liberal  plying 
with  beer  is  a  standard  means  of  getting  out  the  foreign  vote, 
the  immigrant  saloon-keeper  is  obliged  to  become  the  debaucher 
and  betrayer  of  his  fellow-countrymen.  In  Chicago  the  worthy 
Germans  and  Bohemians  are  marshaled  in  the  "United  Societies," 
ostensibly  social  organizations  along  nationality  lines,  but  really 
the  machinery  through  which  the  brewers  and  liquor-dealers  may 
sway  a  foreign-born  vote  not  only  in  defense  of  liquor,  but  also  in 
defense  of  other  corrupt  and  affiliated  interests. 

The  foreign  press  is  another  means  of  misleading  the  natural- 
ized voters.  These  newspapers — Polish,  Bohemian,  Italian,  Greek, 


ON  IMMIGRATION  119 

Yiddish,  etc., — while  they  have  no  small  influence  with  their 
readers,  are  poorly  supported,  and  often  in  financial  straits. 
Many  of  them,  therefore,  can  be  tempted  to  sell  their  political 
influence  to  the  highest  bidder,  which  is,  of  course,  the  party 
representing  the  special  interests.  Thus  the  innocent  foreign- 
born  readers  are  led  like  sheep  to  the  shambles,  and  privilege 
gains  another  intrenching-tool. 

If  the  immigrant  is  neither  debauched  nor  misled,  but  votes 
his  opinions,  is  he  then  an  element  of  strength  to  us? 

When  a  people  has  reached  such  a  degree  of  political  like- 
mindedness  that  fundamentals  are  taken  for  granted,  it  is  free 
to  tackle  new  questions  as  they  come  up.  But  if  it  admits  to 
citizenship  myriads  of  strangers  who  have  not  yet  passed  the 
civic  kindergarten,  questions  that  were  supposed  to  be  settled 
are  reopened.  The  citizens  are  made  to  thresh  over  again  old 
straw — the  relation  of  church  to  state,  of  church  to  school,  of 
state  to  parent,  of  law  to  the  liquor  trade.  Meanwhile,  ripe 
sheaves  ready  to  yield  the  wheat  of  wisdom  under^the  flails  of 
discussion  lie  untouched.  Pressing  questions — public  hygiene, 
conservation,  the  control  of  monopoly,  the  protection  of  labor,  go 
to  the  foot  of  the  docket,  and  public  interests  suffer. 

Some  are  quite  cheerful  about  the  confusion,  cross-purposes, 
and  delay  that  come  with  heterogeneity,  because  they  think  the 
variety  of  views  introduced  by  immigration  is  a  fine  thing, 
"keeps  us  from  getting  into  a  rut."  The  plain  truth  is,  that 
rarely  does  an  immigrant  bring  in  his  intellectual  baggage  any- 
thing of  use  to  us.  The  music  of  Mascagni  and  Debussy,  the 
plays  of  Ibsen  and  Maeterlinck,  the  poetry  of  Rostand  and 
Hauptmann,  the  fiction  of  Jokai  and  Sienkiewicz  were  not 
brought  to  us  by  way  of  Ellis  Island.  What  we  want  is  not 
ideas  merely,  but  fruitful  ideas,  fructifying  ideas.  By  debating 
the  ideas  of  Nietzsche,  Ostwald,  Bergson,  Metchnikoff  or  Ellen 
Key,  American  thought  is  stimulated.  But  should  we  gain  from 
the  introduction  of  old  Asiatic  points  of  view,  which  would 
reopen  such  questions  as  withcraft,  child-marriage,  and  suttee? 
The  clashings  that  arise  from  the  presence  among  us  of  many 
voters  with  medieval  minds  are  sheer  waste  of  energy.  While 
we  Americans  wrangle  over  the  old  issues  of  clericalism,  separ- 
ate schools,  and  "personal  liberty,"  the  little  homogeneous  peoples 
are  forging  ahead  of  us  in  rational  politics  and  learning  to  look 
pityingly  upon  us  as  a  chaos  rather  than  a  people. 


120  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

If  you  should  ask  an  Englishman  whether  the  tone  of 
political  life  in  his  country  would  remain  unaffected  by  the 
admission  to  the  electorate  of  a  couple  of  million  Cypriotes, 
Vlachs,  and  Bessarabians  after  five  years'  residence,  he  would 
take  you  for  a  madman.  Suggest  to  the  German  that  the  plane 
of  political  intelligence  in  reading  and  thinking  Germany  would 
not  be  lowered  by  the  access  to  the  ballot-box  of  multitudes  of 
Serbs,  Georgians,  and  Druses  of  Lebanon,  and  he  will  consign 
you  to  bedlam.  Assure  the  son  of  Norway  that  the  vote  of  the 
Persian  or  Yemenite,  of  sixty  months'  residence  in  Norway,  will 
be  as  often  wise  and  right  as  his  own,  and  he  will  be  insulted. 
It  is  only  we  Americans  who  assume  that  the  voting  of  the 
middle  Atlantic  states,  with  their  million  naturalized  citizens,  or 
of  the  east  north  central  states  with  their  million,  is  as  sane, 
discriminating,  and  forward-looking1  as  it  would  be  without  them. 

The  Italian  historian  and  sociologist  Ferrero,  after  reviewing 
our  immigration  policy,  concludes  that  the  Americans,  far  from 
being  "practical,"  are  really  the  mystics  of  the  modern  world. 
He  says:  "To  confer  citizenship  each  year  upon  great  numbers 
of  men  born  and  educated  in  foreign  countries — ,men  who  come 
with  ideas  and  sympathies  totally  out  of  spirit  with  the  diverse 
conditions  in  the  new  country ;  to  grant  them  political  rights 
they  do  not  want,  and  of  which  they  have  never  thought;  to 
compel  them  to  declare  allegiance  to  a  political  constitution 
which  they  often  do  not  understand;  to  try  to  transform  sub- 
jects of  old  European  monarchies  into  free  citizens  of  young 
American  republics  over  night — is  not  all  this  to  do  violence  to 
common  sense?" 

Popular  Science  Monthly.  66: 166-75.    December,  1904 

Agricultural   Distribution  of  Immigrants.     Robert  DeC.  Ward 

Many  of  the  evils  resulting  from  the  enormous  immigration 
of  aliens  into  this  country  during  recent  years  have  been  much 
aggravated  by  the  congestion  of  these  aliens  in  the  slums  of 
our  large  northern  cities.  For  this  reason,  most  of  those  who 
have  studied  the  immigration  problem  seriously  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  if  these  immigrants  could  be  removed  from 
the  slums,  and  distributed  over  the  agricultural  districts  of  the 
west  and  south,  all  the  difficulties  which  are  now  met  with  in 


ON  IMMIGRATION  121 

educating  and  Americanizing  these  foreigners  could  easily  be 
disposed  of.  The  vastness  of  the  problem  of  the  city  slum,  and 
the  impossibility,  even  with  unlimited  resources  of  men  and 
money,  of  permanently  raising  the  standards  of  living  of  many 
of  our  immigrants  as  long  as  they  are  crowded  together,  and  as 
long  as  the  stream  of  newer  immigrants  pours  into  these  same 
slums,  has  naturally  forced  itself  upon  the  minds  of  thinking 
persons.  This  note  was  struck  in  the  last  annual  report  of  the 
Boston  Associated  Charities  in  the  following  words :  "With  an 
immigration  as  unrestrained  as  at  present,  we  can  have  little 
hope  of  permanent  gain  in  the  struggle  for  uplifting  the  poor 
of  our  cities,  since  newcomers  are  always  at  hand,  ignorant  of 
American  standards."  And  in  a  recent  study  of  the  Chicago 
stock  yards  strike,  in  which  the  miserable  conditions  are  described 
under  which  the  newer  immigrants  employed  in  the  yards  live, 
we  learn  that  "from  the  poorest  parts  of  Bohemia,  Poland, 
Lithuania,  and  Slavonia,  these  immigrant*  have  poured  in  great 
overlapping  waves  into  the  stock  yards.  J  The  standard  of  living 
of  each  wave  rises  slowly,  constantly  sucked  down  by  the  lower 
standards  of  the  waves  behind."1  } 

The  only  remedies  for  such  conditions  are :  a  considerable 
restriction  of  immigration,  and  (not  or)  the  distribution  of  the 
slum  population  through  the  agricultural  districts  of  the  country. 
Although  congress  has  repeatedly  been  asked,  in  the  strongest 
terms,  by  very  influential  bodies  of  citizens  all  over  the  country, 
to  enact  further  restrictive  legislation,  no  laws  at  all  adequate  to 
.meet  the  situation  have  been  put  upon  the  statute  books.  The 
powerful  influences  of  railroad  and  steamship  companies,  and 
of  large  employers  who  want  ''cheap"  labor,  have  been  able  to 
turn  the  scale  against  what  the  majority  of  Americans  without 
question  believe  to  be  the  best  for  the  country.  The  first  of  the 
two  remedies  above  referred  to  not  having  been  secured,  there 
has  been  a  decided  swing  of  opinion  in  favor  of  the  second. 
Any  one  who  reads  over  recent  literature  on  immigration  will 
find  constant  reference  to  the  "solution  of  the  immigration  prob- 
lem by  the  agricultural  distribution  of  our  immigrants."  That 
charity  workers  should  have  been  so  long  finding  out  this  (sup- 
posedly) excellent  and  effective  remedy,  which  is  lauded  as  if  it 
alone  were  to  be  the  panacea  for  all  the  ills  resulting  from 
immigration,  is  much  more  surprising  than  that  the  steamship 

1  The  italics  are  the  present  writer's. 


122  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

and  railroad  interests  of  this  country  should  be  doing  their 
utmost  to  "boom"  it  as  the  one  solution  of  the  immigration 
problem,  always  carefully  concealing  their  own  interest  in  the 
matter,  which  is  to  increase  their  receipts  through  the  trans- 
portation of  all  these  thousands  of  immigrants,  to  secure  cheaper 
labor,  and  to  turn  public  attention  away  from  the  need  of  further 
restrictive  legislation.  The  advocacy  of  the  distribution  plan  by 
those  having  affiliations  with  transportation  interests,  or  with 
enterprises  which  desire  "cheap"  labor,  especially  in  the  less 
thickly  settled  parts  of  our  country,  will  bear  careful  watching. 

The  relief  which  a  distribution  of  the  inhabitants  of  our  city 
slums  seems  sure  to  bring  to  the  charity  workers  and  the  philan- 
thropists of  our  large  northern  cities,  and  the  fact  that  such 
distribution  is  also  being  systematically,  though  not  openly,  advo- 
cated by  powerful  transportation  and  capitalistic  interests,  have 
caused  this  new  idea  to  be  welcomed  with  great  enthusiasm,  the 
selfish  and  unselfish  interests  working  along  the  same  lines,  as  is 
seldom  the  case  in  immigration  matters.  In  all  this  enthusiasm 
for  the  new  remedy  it  is  natural  that  there  is  danger  of  going 
too  fast  and  too  far;  there  is  a  likelihood  that  we  are  urging 
distribution  from  our  congested  districts  without  caring  suffi- 
ciently where  the  people  whom  we  are  anxious  to  get  off  our 
hands  go  to ;  whether  the  removal  will  accomplish  as  much  as  is 
expected  of  it ;  whether  the  people  among  whom  these  foreigners 
are  scattered  really  want  them;  whether  removal  on  a  wholesale 
scale  will  not  develop  new  agricultural  colonies  of  aliens  in  which 
some  of  the  evils  of  the  slums  will  be  reproduced  anew ;  -whether 
the  effects  of  such  dispersion  on  the  communities  among  which 
the  new  settlers  are  located  will  be  for  the  best  of  those  com- 
munities in  the  long  run;  whether — and  this  is  perhaps  the  most 
important  point  of  all — wholesale  distribution  will  really  relieve 
the  city's  burden.  It  is  because  the  writer  realizes  that  distribu- 
tion is  a  remedy  for  existing  evils  which  may  well  be  added  to 
the  more  fundamental  one  of  a  further  restriction  of  immigra- 
tion, and  because  he  realizes  that  many  persons  have  advocated 
the  distribution  idea  without  giving  it  careful  thought,  that  the 
writer  desires  to  call  attention  to  a  few  points  which  need 
discussion  before  we  go  any  further  in  the  matter. 

i.  Expense. — To  scatter  the  city  slum  populations  on  any 
scale  large  enough  to  be  at  all  effective  would  require  vast  sums 
of  money,  if  the  thing  is  done  intelligently.  It  is  not  enough 


ON  IMMIGRATION  123 

simply  to  pay  the  fares  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons 
from  the  cities  to  distant  points  in  the  west  or  south,  but 
provision  should  be  made  for  the  new  arrivals  when  they  reach 
their  destination,  and  they  usually  need  care  and  oversight  for 
a  good  many  years.  It  is  obvious  that  if  immigrants  who  have 
just  landed  can  be  persuaded,  or  forced,  to  go  at  once  into  the 
country  districts  at  their  own  expense,  or  at  the  expense  of  some 
railroad  or  capitalist  desiring  ''cheap"  labor,  philanthropic  per- 
sons would  be  saved  the  immediate  cost  of  the  transportation. 
It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  wholesale  distribution  by 
railroads  or  capitalists  is  not  likely  to  be  controlled  by  a*  desire 
to  do  what  is  best  for  the  immigrants,  nor  for  the  people  among 
whom  they  are  scattered,  but  rather  by  purely  selfish  interests. 
Furthermore,  the  natural  tendency  of  most  of  our  immigrants  is 
to  remain  in  the  larger  cities,  because  of  their  desire  to  be  with 
large  numbers  of  their  fellow-countrymen,  because  .the  majority 
of  the  newcomers  have  very  little  money  and  because  the  cities 
are  the  centers  for  manufacturing  and  mechanical  industries, 
which  are  on  the  whole  more  remunerative  than  agriculture. 

2.  Success    thus    far    attained    not    altogether    encouraging. — 
The  attempts  which  have  already  been  made  along  the  line  of 
the  distribution  of  recent  immigrants  from  our  city  slums,  admir- 
able as  they  are,  and  much  as  they  deserve  support,  have  on  the 
whole   been    sadly   ineffective.     The   Jewish   Industrial    Removal 
Society   of    New    York,   with   the   aid    of   the    Hirsch    fund,   has 
distributed  many  Jewish  families  in  the  country,  partly  in  agri- 
culture, but  usually  in  trade.     Last  year  this  society  sent  more 
than   3,000    persons    to    forty-five    states,    3  -  per   cent   being    on 
record    as    having    already    drifted    back    into    cities.      Similar 
societies  are  at  work  in  Chicago,   Philadelphia  and  Boston,  and 
the  Italian  societies  are  doing  the  same  sort  of  work.     Although 
in  most  cases  the  individuals  thus  removed  have  fared  better  in 
their  new  homes  than   in  the  slums,  yet  taken  as  a  whole,  the 
success    thus    far    attained    is    not    so    encouraging    as    to    lead 
thoughtful  persons  to  be  sanguine  about  the  entire  practicability 
of   carrying1  out  a    successful    scheme    of   wholesale    distribution 
along  similar  lines.     And  while  there  have  been  successes  in  the 
past,  there  have  also  been  many  dismal  failures,  and  in  almost 
all  such  attempts  very  great  difficulties  have  been  met. 

3.  Most  of  our  neiver  immigrants  not  adapted  to  an  agricul- 
tural life. — It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  all  immigrants  can  be 


i24  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

turned  into  successful  farmers  simply  by  sending  them  into  the 
country.  The  commissioner  of  immigration  at  the  port  of  New 
York  says  in  his  last  annual  report  (1903)  :  "Thousands  of 
foreigners  keep  pouring  into  our  cities,  declining  to  go  where 
they  might  be  wanted  because  they  are  neither  physically  nor 
mentally  fitted  to  go  to  these  undeveloped  parts  of  our  country, 
and  do  as  did  the  early  settlers  from  northern  Europe,"  and  this 
is  especially  true  of  most  of  the  immigrants  who,  because  of  the 
steamship  rate  war,  have  been  coming  over  to  this  country  during 
the  summer  of  1904  for  less  than  $10  a  head.  Such  a  rate  makes 
it  possible  for  the  most  ignorant  and  the  most  depraved  inhabit- 
ants of  Europe's  slums  to  come  here.  Would  a  railroad  fare  of 
say  $5  from  Chicago  to  southern  California  induce  the  best  or 
the  least  desirable  of  Chicago's  residents  to  take  advantage  of 
the  opportunity  to  go  west?  Long  residence  of  successive  gen- 
erations in  the  ghettoes  or  Europe  has  unfitted  most  of  the  Jews 
to  be  independent  farmers ;  the  Syrians  and  Armenians  take 
naturally  to  non-agricultural  occupations,  and  so  it  is  with  others. 

To  transform  ignorant  laborers,  with  but  a  few  dollars  in 
their  possession,  into  landowners,  is  not  a  matter  of  a  day  or  a 
year.  It  involves  an  expenditure  of  time  and  money.  It  is  a 
matter  of  the  assimilation  of  the  immigrant  and  of  the  elevation 
of  his  standards  of  living.  Thus,  neither  the  interests  of  those 
states  which  desire  immigrants  who  shall  at  once  buy  their  land, 
nor  the  best  interests  of  the  Italian  immigrants  themselves  are 
met  in  a  wholesale  distribution  of  ignorant  farm  laborers. 

4.  Do  the  country  districts  want  the  kind  of  immigrants 
zvliom  it  is  proposed  to  send  to  them? — No  distribution  of  our 
immigrants  should  be  thought  of  if  the  states  to  which  they  are 
to  be  sent  do  not  welcome  them.  A  few  years  ago,  the  U.  S. 
Immigration  Investigating  Commission  asked  the  governors  of 
the  different  states  what  nationalities  of  immigrants  they  desired, 
and  in  only  two  cases  was  any  desire  expressed  for  Slavs,  Latins, 
Jews  or  Asiatics,  and  both  of  these  two  cases  related  to  Italian 
farmers,  with  money,  intending  to  become  permanent  settlers. 
A  canvass  of  the  same  kind,  made  within  six  months  by  some 
gentlemen  who  are  interested  in  the  distribution  scheme,  showed 
that  these  preferences  have  undergone  no  appreciable  change. 
In  every  case,  in  this  recent  canvass,  the  officials  protested  against 
the  shipment  of  southern  and  eastern  Europeans  from  the  city 
slums  into  their  states.  In  the  south  today,  owing  to  the  lessened 


ON  IMMIGRATION  125 

efficiency  of  the  negro,  the  greater  demand  for  field  laborers,  and 
the  movement  from  the  country  into  the  towns,  the  need  of 
pickers  in  the  cotton  fields  is  very  great  in  some  sections,  and  the 
demand  for  vast  hordes  of  any  kind  of  laborers — even  the  most 
ignorant  of  newly-arrived  aliens — is  referred  to  in  the  news- 
papers. But  this  demand  for  the  cheapest  labor  without  regard 
to  the  effects  which  the  importation  of  such  laborers  will  have 
upon  the  community,  apparently  comes  from  a  comparatively 
limited  number  of  capitalists,  and  from  the  southern  railroads. 
The  majority  of  the  thinking  people  of  the  south,  if  they  know 
something  about  the  evils  which  have  come  in  the  train  of  the 
newer  alien  immigration  in  the  north,  will  not  look  with  favor 
upon  the  wholesale  importation  of  cheap  and  ignorant  alien  labor. 
Several  of  the  southern  states  have  emphatically  stated  what 
nationalities  of  immigrants  they  want,  and  their  preferences  are 
for  people  from  the  northern  United  States  and  for  nothern 
Europeans.  Thus,  South  Carolina,  concerning  which  a  leading 
authority  on  the  south  has  said  that  there  is  no  state  in  the 
Union  in  which  "there  is  a  more  general  desire  for  more  white 
men  who  are  willing  to  work  with  their  hands,"  has,  through 
its  legislature,  recently  voted  that  its  new  commissioner  of  agri- 
culture, commerce  and  immigration  must  confine  his  activities  in 
securing  new  immigrants  to  ''white  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
citizens  of  Ireland,  Scotland,  Switzerland,  France  and  all  other 
foreigners  of  Saxon  origin."  The  general  demand  in  the  south 
and  west  is  for  the  intelligent  "settler  who  has  means  of  pur- 
chase," not  for  the  newly-arrived,  ignorant  and  penniless  immi- 
grant, who  "would  require  the  fostering  care  of  government 
or  of  wealthy  private  societies."  The  land  companies  and  large 
private  owners  of  land  are  in  search  of  purchasers  who  have 
resided  in  the  United  States  for  some  years  and  are  familiar  with 
American  customs,  or  else  of  immigrants  with  some  money, 
coming  from  northern  Europe.  To  send  out  to  other  states 
thousands  of  aliens  who  are  not  really  desired  there,  simply 
because  we  think  we  can  thus  relieve  ourselves  of  an  unpleasant 
burden,  is  much  like  throwing  our  weeds  over  our  neighbor's 
fence,  into  our  neighbor's  garden. 

There  doubtless  is  need  of  labor  in  the  south  today;  the 
Italian  is  unquestionably  well  fitted  to  do  much  of  the  work 
which  needs  doing ;  and  in  those  parts  of  the  southern  country 
where  Italians  have  settled,  they  have  proved  their  ability  and 


126  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

willingness  to  do  work  at  least  equal  to  that  of  the  negro  in 
the  cotton-fields ;  they  are  praised  as  industrious,  thrifty,  good 
citizens,  frugal,  and  as  having  increased  land  values.  On  some 
railroads,  also,  they  are  reported  as  being  satisfactory  laborers. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  noted  that  the  most  successful 
settlements  have  been  those  of  northern  Italians ;  that  the 
greater  desirability  of  the  northern  Italian  is  generally  recognized 
wherever  experience  has  been  had  with  both  northern  and  south- 
ern Italians,  and  that  thus  far  the  number  of  Italians  in  the 
south  has  been  small  and  practically  none  of  the  less  happy 
consequences  of  the  congestion  of  separate  nationalities  have 
been  noted.  The  favorable  reports  which  have  recently  been 
made  by  Chevaliers  Rossi  and  Rossati  as  to  the  conditions  and 
prospects  of  Italian  immigrants  in  the  Mississippi  delta;  the 
plans  which  are  being  formed  for  the  transportation  of  tens  of 
thousands  of  Italians  to  the  southern  states,  either  by  the  new 
direct  steamship  line  from  Italy  to  New  Orleans  or  by  the  train- 
load  from  the  slums  of  New  York  and  of  other  northern  cities 
or  direct  from  Ellis  Island — it  all  sounds  like  an  attractive 
program  for  the  Italians.  But  does  the  scheme  sound  altogether 
as  attractive  to  those  southerners  who  have  the  best  interests  of 
their  own  country  at  heart,  and  who  fully  appreciate  how  grave 
are  the  social  and  political  responsibilities  which  already  weigh 
upon  their  fair  land?  The  South  should  think  twice  before  it 
allows  its  capitalists  and  its  railroads  to  flood  the  country  with 
"cheap"'  and  ignorant  alien  laborers.  A  leading  newspaper  of 
the  South  has  recently  said  that  the  southern  states  want  no 
such  immigrants  as  have  crowded  the  east  side  of  New  York 
and  the  factories  of  New  England.  Unless  steps  are  taken  by 
the  South  to  prevent  it,  much  the  same  conditions  may  be  devel- 
oped there  within  a  few  years. 

5.  Wholesale  distribution  soon  involves  foreign  "colonies."— 
One  of  the  objects  of  the  agricultural  distribution  of  our  recent 
immigrants  is  to  prevent  the  congestion  of  the  different  nation- 
alities in  colonies,  by  scattering  these  people,  as  it  is  said,  "among 
the  native  population."  Now  while  distribution  in  country  dis- 
tricts does,  of  course,  in  all  cases,  prevent  such  congestion  as  is 
characteristic  of  city  slums,  the  tendency  for  recent  immigrants 
from  southern  and  eastern  Europe  to  herd  together  in  settle- 
ments of  their  own  is  almost  as  marked  in  the  country  as  in  the 
cities.  Moreover,  this  unfortunate  tendency — unfortunate  because 


ON  IMMIGRATION  127 

it  retards  assimilation — is  in  many  cases  fostered  by  philanthropic 
societies  and  by  railroad  and  land  companies.  The  following 
headings,  clipped  at  random  from  newspapers  of  recent  dates, 
show  how  distinctly  the  much  talked  of  "agricultural  distribu- 
tion" of  our  newer  immigration  tends  towards  the  formation  of 
alien  colonies.  "Poles  going  to  Michigan.  The  Milwaukee 
branch  of  the  Polish  National  Alliance  of  America  has  pur- 
chased 50,000  acres.  It  is  planned  to  establish  other  large 
colonies."  "The  latest  phase  of  the  New  Zion  problem  is  to 
purchase  a  large  tract  of  land  in  Wisconsin  for  the  immigrant 
Jews  from  Roumania  and  from  Russia."  "Jewish  colony  for 
Michigan.  Russian  and  Polish  refugees  to  settle  on  the  line  of 
the  Escanaba  and  Lake  Superior  R.  R.  They  are  brought  by  a 
committee  in  New  York."  "Hungarians  coming  to  Texas.  About 
500  families  from  southern  Austria  to  settle  on  line  of  Southern 
Pacific."  "Hungarian  colony  planned.  A  $200,000  company  to 
establish  town  sites  in  Jackson  Co.,  Arkansas.  E.  E.  Barclay, 
Immigration  Agent  of  the  St.  Louis,  Iron  Mountain  and  South- 
ern R.  R.,  is  the  chief  stockholder."  (The  last  sentence  is 
significant  of  the  moving  spirit  behind  many  of  these  new 
colonies.)  "Russian  Jew  colony  in  Alabama.  The  colony  will 
consist  of  forty  Russian  Jew  families,  and  they  propose  to 
establish  a  manufacturing  settlement,  principally  for  the  making 
of  clothes."  And  so  on,  ad  libitum.  It  is  obvious  that  the 
establishment  of  such  alien  colonies  is  not  conducive  to  thorough 
and  rapid  assimilation,  and  that,  if  this  is  the  tendency  of  "agri- 
cultural distribution,"  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  such 
distribution  are  certain  to  be  much  lessened. 

6.  Effects  upon  the  sections  in  which  the  distribution  takes 
place  not  always  good. — To  scatter  among  our  rural  communities 
large  numbers  of  aliens  whose  standards  of  living  are  such  that 
they  are  willing  to  work  for  the  lowest  possible  wage,  is  to 
expose  our  native  farming  population  to  a  competition  which  is 
distinctly  undesirable.  In  the  corn  belt  of  the  west,  as  Professor 
T.  N.  Carver  has  recently  shown,  the  newer  immigrants,  because 
of  their  lower  standards  of  living,  have  been  able  to  put  more 
money  into  land,  buildings  and  equipment  than  the  native 
American  farmer ;  and  hence  have  an  advantage  in  the  struggle 
for  existence.  Scattering  our  alien  population  of  the  more 
ignorant  races  simply  spreads  more  widely  the  evils  which  result 
from  exposing  our  own  people  to  competition  with  the  lower 


128  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

classes  of  foreigners.  Again,  in  the  case  of  the  agricultural 
distribution  of  Italian  and  other  alien  laborers  through  the  South, 
while  it  is  perfectly  true  that  these  aliens  will  supplant  the 
negroes  in  many — probably  in  most — occupations,  the  effect  will 
undoubtedly  be  to  cause  a  migration  of  the  negroes  to  the  cities 
— a  result  which  those  familiar  with  the  conditions  of  negroes 
now  congested  in  cities  can  not  fail  to  view  with  the  greatest 
alarm.  Lastly,  the  more  widely  we  scatter  the  newer  immigrants, 
the  more  widespread  will  be  the  effect  of  the  competition  with 
the  lower  grades  of  aliens  in  causing  a  decrease  in  the  birth  rate 
among  the  older  portion  of  our  population.  American  fathers 
and  mothers,  as  the  late  Gen.  Francis  A.  Walker  first  pointed 
out,  and  as  leading  authorities  have  since  reiterated,  naturally 
shrink  from  exposing  their  sons  and  daughters  to  competition 
with  those  who  are  contented  with  lower  wages  and  lower 
standards  of  living;  and  therefore  these  sons  and  daughters  are 
never  born.  The  agricultural  distribution  of  immigrants  from 
southern  and  eastern  Europe,  and  from  Asia,  will  hasten  still 
more  the  replacement  of  the  native  by  foreign  stock. 

7.  Agricultural  distribution  of  immigrants  will  not  solve  the 
immigration  problem. — But  few  of  those  who  are  now  urging 
the  necessity  of  relieving  the  city  slum  burden  by  distributing 
the  slum  population  realize  that  such  distribution  will  not,  and 
can  not,  of  itself,  lead  to  any  relief,  as  long  as  the  tide  of 
new  immigration  flows  on  unchecked.  As  Professor  John  R. 
Commons,  one  of  the  leading  authorities  on  immigration  in  the 
United  States,  has  recently  said : x 

To  relieve  the  pressure  in  the  cities  without  restricting  the  number 
admitted  only  opens  the  way  for  a  still  larger  immigration;  for,  strangely 
enough,  emigration  has  not  relieved  the  pressure  of  population  in  Europe. 
In  no  period  of  their  history,  with  the  exception  of  Ireland,  have  the  popu- 
lations of  Europe  increased  at  a  greater  rate  than  during  the  last  half 
century  of  migration  to  America.  As  a  relief  for  current  immigration, 
agricultural  distribution  is  not  promising. 

1  The  Chautauquan,  May,    1904,  224. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  129 

Survey.    25:715-16.    February  4,  1911 

Selection  of  Immigrants.     Edward  T.  Devine 

On  the  main  subject  the  Immigration  Commission  has  spoken 
clearly  and  its  recommendation  should  become  law.  There  must 
be  effective  restriction  and  selection  for  the  purpose  of  main- 
taining American  standards  of  living.  In  reply  to  the  demand 
for  a  more  rigorous  selection  of  immigrants  we  hear  two  mutu- 
ally contradictory  assertions.  One  is  that  there  are  not  enough 
immigrants  to  do  any  harm — after  allowance  is  made  for  those 
who  return.  The  other  is  that  we  have  no  standards  anyway, — 

[  at  least  that  there  is  no  one  who  has  a  right  to  speak  for  them, 
as  we  are  all  immigrants  of  a  first,  or  a  later,  generation.  Both 

1  assertions  are  untenable.  There  are,  in  fact,  American  stand- 
ards, transplanted  in  part  by  those  who  founded  our  republic, 
developed  in  part  on  our  own  soil,  influenced  by  the  reaction 
of  other  standards  in  other  nations,  and  yet  distinctively  Ameri- 
can : — standards  moral,  political,  and  economic  ;  standards  unique 
and  precious,  worth  fighting  for;  worth,  if  need  be,  dying  for; 
worth  preserving  at  all  hazards  for  ourselves  and  our  children, 
and  yet  not  selfishly  for  our  sake  and  theirs  only,  but  also  as  a 
sacred  duty  towards  mankind;  and  these  standards  are  gravely 
imperilled  by  the  annual  addition  of  an  unsifted  million  of  new- 
comers whose  standards  are  different  from  ours. 

We  do  have  a  right  to  assert  vigorously  the  value  of  our 
national  heritage,  and,  though  it  may  seem  old-fashioned  to  say 
it,  we  do  have  a  sacred  duty  to  transmit  it  unimpaired — which 
is  not  to  say  unchanged — to  our  posterity.  To  some  extent  this 
heritage  is  one  of  race.  Its  creators  gave  it  to  us  with  their 
blood.  It  has  been  enriched  by  many  crossings  of  races,  but 
biologists  tell  us  that  mingling  within  limits  is  beneficial,  beyond 
those  limits  productive  only  of  a  mongrel  and  degenerate  breed. 
Let  no  one  read  into  this  expression  of  national  responsibility 
for  American  standards  a  shred  of  bigotry  or  prejudice  against 
any  of  the  peoples  of  the  earth.  Modern  social  ideals  are 
neither  provincial  nor  sectarian.  It  is  precisely  because  of  a 
passionate  attachment  to  the  true  interests  of  humanity  that 
social  workers  may  look  with  profound  distrust  upon  the  demand 
for  cheap  immigrant  labor.  Genuine  humane  sentiment  is  not 
inconsistent  with  the  maintenance  of  community  and  national 
standards. 


130  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

Employers  of  the  exploiting  type  make  no  mistake,  from  their 
own  point  of  view,  when  they  demand  cheap  immigrant  labor. 
They  can  figure  it  out  with  great  precision.  They  know  that 
as  a  rule  this  labor  is  less  skillful,  less  intelligent,  less  efficient, 
less  inherently  desirable,  than  the  native  labor  or  the  earlier 
immigrant  labor  from  more  closely  related  peoples.  But  there 
are  great  compensations.  It  is  the  very  best  labor  in  one  parti- 
cular. It  can  be  exploited.  That  is  the  whole  disagreeable 
truth  in  a  nutshell.  Lower  wages,  longer  hours,  crowded  living 
quarters,  fewer  claimants  in  case  of  death  or  injury  from  acci- 
dents, less  trade  union  "nonsense,"  fewer  trade  disputes,  less 
sympathy  from  the  disinterested  public  for  the  laborer's  side 
when  there  is  a  dispute,  less  public  concern  generally  as  to 
what  is  happening  in  the  mill  when  the  laborers  are  foreigners — 
such  are  some  of  "the  considerations  which  throw  the  balance 
in  favor  of  immigrant  labor.  The  wages  demanded  are  enough 
lower  to  give  an  ample  margin  for  more  effective  supervision. 
The  general  tendency  of  improved  machinery  is  to  decrease 
relatively  the  demand  for  skilled  labor,  thus  permitting  the 
profitable  employment  of  fresh  supplies  of  entirely  unskilled, 
but  physically  strong,  immigrants.  Out  on  the  railways  of  the 
Northwest  the  first  object  for  which  immigrants  will  strike  is 
for  the  privilege  of  working  twelve  hours  instead  of  ten,  and 
the  next  is  for  the  privilege  of  working  on  Sunday.  In  this 
instance  employers,  paying  by  the  hour  and  not  having  expensive 
mills  in  operation,  resist  the  demand,  for  the  labor  of  the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  hours  is  relatively  unproductive.  The  men 
are  already  exhausted.  To  laborers  of  a  higher  standard  the 
leisure  for  physical  recuperation  would  be  worth  more  than  the 
small  addition  to  their  wages.  To  these  men  the  money  is  more 
important.  Here  we  have  a  simple,  but  perfect,  illustration  of 
that  conflict  of  standards  to  which  the  nation  as  a  whole  cannot 
afford  to  be  indifferent. 

It  is  then  in  the  ultimate  and  in  the  very  immediate  inter- 
ests of  the  oppressed  and  struggling  everywhere  that  America 
should  maintain  her  standards.  She  may  give  generously  from 
her  surplus.  She  may  enlighterr  by  her  example.  She  may  throw 
her  influence  and  if  necessary  exert  her  might  against  oppres- 
sion. But  one  thing  she  may  not  do :  extinguish  the  light  with 
which  she  is  to  enlighten  the  world.  To  lower  our  own  stand- 
ards is  the  only  treason.  To  reduce  the  position  of  our  work- 
ingmen  to  that  of  the  communities  from  which  our  immigration 


ON   IMMIGRATION  131 

is  coming  is  to  destroy,  perhaps  forever,  the  very  power  to 
serve. 

There  should  be  no  opposition  or  rivalry  between  the  policy 
of  selection  and  the  policy  of.  distribution  and  assimilation  by 
every  practicable  device.  Both  are  essential.  No  restriction 
which  is  at  all  likely  to  be  adopted  will  sensibly  diminish  the 
need  for  such  aid  both  by  philanthropy  and  by  government. 
Good  hard  thinking  as  to  how  best  to  assimilate  those  whom  we 
already  have  and  those  who  are  certain  to  come  even  under 
a  policy  of  much  more  strict  selection  is  of  the  utmost  import- 
ance. Except  for  the  Educational  Alliance,  the  Industrial  Re- 
moval Society,  and  the  Society  for  the  Protection  of  Italian 
Immigrants,  there  has  been  almost  no  instructive  experiment 
and  scarcely  any  clear  thinking  on  this  subject.  Let  these  ex- 
periments by  all  means  be  greatly  extended,  but  let  us  be  modest 
about  calling  any  of  them  as  yet  a  "true  solution  of  the  immigra- 
tion question."  Under  the  conditions  of  actual  life  we  shall 
have  to  deal  in  partial  solutions,  among  which,  as  we  have 
intimated,  the  recommendation  of  the  Immigrant  Commission 
as  to  restriction  deserves  prompt  and  favorable  consideration. 

The  illiteracy  test  is  crude  and  unsatisfactory  but  it  is  prac- 
ticable and  humane.  As  a  rule  ambitious  illiterates  desiring  to 
migrate  can  overcome  this  disqualification  and  the  fact  of  their 
having  done  so  will  augur  well  for  their  future  success  in  the 
land  of  their  adoption. 

Survey.     29:497-9.     January  18,  1913 

Democracy  and  the  Illiteracy  Test.    Joseph  Lee 

We  shall  never  have  true  social  and  political  democracy  until 
the  lower  standard  of  living  and  of  wages  can  be  raised  far 
above  the  present  level.  It  is  not  a  question  of  a  bare  living 
wage  but  of  wages  on  which  not  only  physical  existence  but 
real  life  can  be  carried  on.  I  believe  the  thing  can  be  done. 
I  think  we  can  attain  a  far  higher  standard  than  we  have  so 
far  even  learned  to  aim  at.  And  I  believe  it  is  going  to  be  done. 
But  this  end  will  not  be  attained  by  simple  legislative  fiat.  We 
are  not  going  to  get  high  wages  simply  by  decreeing  that  wages 
shall  be  high.  That  sort  of  legislation  began,  so  far  as  English- 
speaking  countries  are  concerned,  with  the  Statute  of  Laborers, 
back  in  the  time  of  Edward  III  of  England.  The  object  of  that 


132  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

statute  was  not  to  keep  wages  up  but  to  keep  them  down.  But 
with  all  the  prestige  and  power  of  the  governing  classes  of  those 
days  behind  it,  it  utterly  failed  because  the  French  wars  had  so 
cut  down  the  supply  of*  labor  that  the  economic  laws  worked 
against  it.  The  same  has  been  the  history  of  laws  fixing  com- 
modity prices.  If  the  thing  could  be  accomplished  so  easily  it 
would  have  been  done  long  ago  ;  and  we  should  not  stop  with  a 
living  wage  but  provide  that  everyone  should  have  comfort  and 
even  luxury  while  we  were  about  it. 

But  we  can  get  the  desired  result  by  working  in  accordance 
with  economic  laws.  One  of  these  is  the  law  of  supply  and  de- 
mand. There  are  limits  in  any  country,  at  any  given  time,  to 
the  demand  for  unskilled  labor.  The  wages  such  workers  com- 
mand will  depend  largely  on  the  supply  of  them.  So  long  as 
every  rise  of  wages  in  this  country  operates  simply  to  draw  in 
unskilled  labor  from  the  inexhaustible  supply  at  starvation  level 
in  the  Old  World,  we  shall  never  raise  wages  in  this  country 
very  high.  It  is  like  trying  to  bail  out  the  boat  without  first 
plugging  up  the  leak,  or  rather — when  the  leak  is  as  big  as  the 
steamship  companies  now  make  it — it  is  like  trying  to  dig  a 
hole  in  the  surface  of  the  ocean  itself.  In  fact,  the  argument 
most  commonly  used  for  unrestricted  immigration  is  that  it  is 
necessary  for  the  development  of  our  industries,  that  is,  to 
keep  wages  down  and  to  encourage  enterprises  dependent  on 
low-priced  labor. 

Secondly,  restriction  is  necessary  because  it  is  impossible  to 
assimilate  foreign  populations  in  unlimited  quantities,  and  is  be- 
coming increasingly  so,  as  each  new  layer  of  immigration  comes 
in  contact  with  American  ideals  at  a  constantly  greater  remove 
from  the  original.  The  net  immigration  in  the  past  dozen  years 
has  probably  been  about  six  million  or  nearly  twice  as  large  as  the 
number  of  people  in  this  country  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 

Restriction  of  immigration  is  necessary  to  the  establishing 
of  a  democratic  standard  of  wages  and  of  living  and  to  the 
permeation  of  the  mass  by  American  ideals. 

The  illiteracy  test  is  the  best  method  of  restriction  that  has 
been  suggested.  A  head  tax  has  the  disadvantage  of  partly  im- 
poverishing the  immigrant.  To  wholly  exclude  any  European 
race  would  be  a  poor  method  because  there  is  no  European 
race  of  which  the  best  are  not  desirable.  The  critics  of  the 
illiteracy  test  have  never  suggested  or  attempted  to  suggest  an 
efficient  substitute. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  133 

A  very  curious  argument,  perhaps  the  commonest  against 
the  illiteracy  test,  is  that  it  lets  in  some  undesirables — that  some 
had  men  can  read  and  write.  This  argument  overlooks  the  fact 
that  the  adoption  of  this  test  does  not  exclude  the  retention  or 
adoption  of  other  tests.  We  restrictionists  have  succeeded  in 
having  certain  of  the  least  desirable  classes  excluded,  such  as 
the  insane,  the  feeble-minded,  convicted  criminals,  white  slaves, 
the  physically  unfit  to  a  limited  extent,  and  persons  likely  to 
become  a  public  charge.  The  present  Senate  bill  contains 
clauses  to  make  these  exclusions  more  effective  by  stopping 
some  of  the  holes  that  our  liberal  immigration  friends  have 
found,  or  made,  in  present  laws.  We  shall  be  glad  to  help  in 
any  further  practicable  exclusion  of  the  least  desirable.  Mean- 
time1 it  seems  clear  that  if  the  illiteracy  test  is  in  other  respects 
a  good  thing,  it  is  not  an  argument  against  it  that  there  are 
some  evils  which  it  does  not  prevent.  It  might  similarly  be 
argued  against  the  prevention  of  tuberculosis  that  it  is  not  also 
a  cure  for  cancer.  Indeed,  the  same  argument  might  be  used 
against  the  enactment  of  any  law  on  any  other  subject. 

Secondly  it  is  argued  that  the  illiteracy  test  will  keep  out 
some  good  people.  So  undoubtedly  would  any  test.  That 
result  is  unavoidable  unless  we  are  to  face  the  alternative  evil 
of  the  surrender  once  for  all  of  American  standards  and  Ameri- 
can ideals.  So  also  the  African  slave  trade  brought  in  some  good 
people.  Booker  Washington  is  a  product  of  it. 

Upon  the  whole  the  illiteracy  test  does  exclude  the  less  de- 
sirable and  admit  the  more  desirable.  It  would  be  justified  as  a 
selective  measure  even  if  positive  restriction  were  not  necessary 
to  the  preservation  and  advance  of  American  standards. 

Illiteracy  itself  is  an  evil  in  a  democracy.  I  suppose  that  is 
why  we  teach  our  own  children  to  read  and  write.  At  all 
events  we  in  Massachusetts  have  been  made  to  feel  by  recent 
events  that  people  who  cannot  read  a  newspaper,  or  be  reached 
by  ideas  through  any  channel  except  by  words  spoken  in  their 
native  language,  are  thereby  rendered  less  amenable  to  public 
opinion  and  less  easy  of  assimilation.  And  illiteracy  among  those 
over  school  age  is  a  handicap  which  usually  lasts  for  life. 

The  illiteracy  test  excludes,  upon  the  whole,  those  elements 
of  Old  World  society  that  are  the  more  backward  and  the  less 
favorable  material  for  democracy.  Education  and  democracy 
have  always  gone  hand  in  hand.  It  is  the  more  forward  and 
more  democratic  communities  in  the  Old  World  that  have  es- 


134  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

tablished  education,  the  more  backward  and  less  democratic 
communities  that  have  not  done  so.  It  may  not  be  the  fault 
of  the  individual  in  the  latter  kind  of  community  that  he  has 
never  learned  to  read ;  but  it  is  the  fault  of  the  community  itself 
and  an  indication  of  the  amount  of  progress  its  people  have  made 
through  all  the  centuries  in  democratic  government. 

Italy  affords  an  instance  of  the  sort  of  selection  that  will  be 
made.  The  illiteracy  test  will  exclude  only  some  5.6  per  cent, 
of  the  north  Italians,  the  race  that  produced  Columbus,  Dante, 
Michael  Angelo,  Garibaldi,  Mazzini  and  Cavour.  It  will,  on  the 
other  hand,  exclude  about  42.8  per  cent  of  the  very  different  race 
of  southern  Italy,  the  race  that,  whatever  its  merits  in  other 
respects,  has  made,  or  submitted  to,  the  successive  governments 
of  Sicily  and  Naples,  and  whose  most  notable  political  and  social 
institution  of  the  present  day  is  the  Camorra.  The  illiteracy 
test,  again,  will  exclude  only  from  I  to  2  per  cent  of  the  Germans, 
the  Scandinavians,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  British  Isles ; 
while  on  the  other  hand  it  will  exclude  some  32  per  cent  of  the 
people  of  southern  and  eastern  Europe  whose  most  stable  and 
characteristic  political  achievement  has  been  the  Russian  Empire. 
Which  of  these  two  classes  would  the  reader  choose  if  he  were 
starting  out  to  select  material  for  a  democracy — the  people  of 
Florence,  Genoa  and  Lombardy,  or  those  of  Sicily  and  Naples; 
the  German  burgher  or  the  Russian  peasant? 

And  what  will  be  the  effect  of  the  exclusion  upon  the 
American  stock  as  it  was  transmitted  to  us?  Longfellow  wrote 
of  the  settlement  of  New  England  that  "God  had  sifted  three 
kingdoms  to  find  the  wheat  for  this  planting."  The  old  stock, 
North  and  South,  was  largely  of  the  cream  of  the  English 
nation,  drawn  off  at  its  greatest  period.  I  cannot  believe  that 
the  average  unlettered  citizen  of  Sicily  or  Naples  is  its  equal 
in  the  matter  of  carrying  on  successful  democracy. 

'« 
Congressional    Record.     46:4229-31.     March    3,    1911 

Brief  in  Favor  of  the  Illiteracy  Test.     John  L.  Burnett 

(a)  The  illiteracy  test  would  largely  cut  down  the  number 
of  undesirable  immigrants,  thus  promoting  the  assimilation  of 
other  immigrants. 

(&)   It  would  improve  the  quality  of  immigration. 

(c)   It  is  a  certain  and  definite  test,  easily  applied. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  135 

(d)  Elementary  education  on  the  part  of  immigrants  is  desir- 
able. 

(e)  The    illiteracy    test    is    demanded    by    intelligent    public 
opinion. 

(a)   The  Illiteracy  Test  Would  Exclude  Undesirables 

1.  It    is    generally    admitted   that    a    large    proportion    of   the 
aliens   coming  to   us  today  are   not   as   desirable   as   the   former 
immigration,  which  settled  the  middle  and  western  states.     (See 
report  of  Commissioner-general,  1909,  p.    111-112.) 

2.  The  illiteracy  of  the  various  races   of  immigrants  in   1909 
was  as  follows: 

NORTHERN  AND  WESTERN  EUROPE   (CHIEFLY  TEUTONIC 
AND  CELTIC) 

Per  cent. 

Scandinavian    0.2 

Scotch   5 

Finnish    _. 5 

English    7 

Bohemian  and  Moravian    1.5 

Irish    1.5 

Dutch  and  Flemish 2.6 

German    6.3 

French 8.0 

Italian  (North) 8.4 

Average  of  above 3.5 

SOUTHERN  AND  EASTERN  EUROPE   (CHIEFLY  SLAVIC 
AND  IBERIC) 

Per  cent. 

Spanish     10.6 

Magyar    10.8 

Slovak 19.7 

Greek    26.  i 

Croatian  and  Slovenian   28.7 

Hebrew     29.2 

Polish    39.9 

Russian     41.7 

Portuguese   42.3 

Bulgarian,   Servian,  and  Montenegrin    46.5 

Ruthenian    51.3 

Roumanian     52.3 

Italian    (South) 56.9 

Lithuanian    58.2 


Average  of  above 42.  i 


136  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

OTHER  RACES 

Per  cent. 

Cuban    2.4 

African    (black) 22.4 

Armenian   22.5 

Japanese    28.7 

Syrian 52.5 

Mexican    64.6 

Average  of  above   42.4 

From  this  appears  that  the  illiteracy  of  immigrants  from 
southern  and  eastern  Europe  is  over  twelve  times  as  great  as 
that  of  aliens  from  northwestern  Europe,  and  that  the  illiteracy 
of  Armenians,  Japanese,  and  Syrians  is  also  high. 

In  1909  over  three-fifths  of  the  total  immigration  was  of  these 
illiterate  races. 

3.  Ignorance  of  a  trade  goes  hand  in  hand  with  illiteracy.    Of 
one  group  of  illiterate  aliens  arriving  in  1909  less  than  5  per  cent 
had   any   skilled    occupation,    and  94   per    cent   of   those   having 
occupations  were  common  laborers,  and  of  another  group  90  per 
cent  were  laborers. 

4.  The   illiterate   races  now   coming    do   not   distribute   them- 
selves  over   the   country,   but   settle   in   a   few    states.     Thus,   of 
165,248  south  Italians  arriving  in  1909,  125,139  were  destined  for 
Illinois,    Massachusetts,    New    York,   and    Pennsylvania;    and   of 
77,565  Poles,  52,375  were  destined  for  the  same  states.     Of  57,551 
Hebrews,  46,889  had  the  same  destination. 

5.  These  races  not  merely  tend  to  congregate  in  certain  states, 
but  in  the  large  cities  of  those  states. 

The  census  of  1900,  Population,  Part  I,  page  176,  shows  that, 
while  immigrants  of  these  races  which  came  to  us  formerly  in 
large  numbers  settle  in  the  country,  immigrants  of  races  now 
coming  herd  together  in  the  cities.  Thus  only  one-fourth  to  one- 
third  of  the  Scandinavians  live  in  our  cities  and  one-half  of  the 
British  and  Germans.  On  the  other  hand,  three-fifths  of  the 
Italians  and  Poles  and  three-fourths  of  the  Russian  Jews  live  in 
cities. 

Further,  Chicago  contained  91  per  cent  of  all  the  Poles  in 
Illinois  and  84  per  cent  of  all  the  Italians.  New  York  City 
contained  47  per  cent  of  all  the  Poles  in  the  state,  80  per  cent  of 
all  the  Italians,  and  94  per  cent  of  all  the  Russian  Jews. 

6.  And  even  within  the   large   cities  the   illiterate   races  tend 
to  herd  together  in  the  slum  districts. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  137 

The  seventh  special  report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner 
of  Labor  (1894,  p.  44)  showed  that  natives  of  Austria-Hungary, 
Italy,  Poland,  and  Russia  constituted  six  times  their  normal 
proportion  in  the  slums  of  Baltimore,  seven  times  in  Chicago, 
five  times  in  New  York,  and  twenty-six  times  in  Philadelphia. 
It  appears  also  (pp.  160-163)  that  of  every  100  aliens,  forty  were 
illiterates  in  the  slums  of  Baltimore,  forty-seven  in  Chicago,  fifty- 
nine  in  New  York,  and  fifty-one  in  Philadelphia,  and  that  the 
illiteracy  of  southeastern  Europeans  in  these  slums  was  54.5  per 
cent,  as  compared  with  25.5  per  cent  for  northwestern  Europeans 
and  7.4  per  cent  for  native  Americans  in  the  same  slums. 

In  other  words,  if  an  illiteracy  test  had  been  in  operation  since 
1882,  these  slums  would  now  be  of  insignificant  proportions 
instead  of  being  hotbeds  of  crime,  disease,  and  pauperism — a 
menace  to  the  immigrants  and  to  the  community  at  large. 

7.  In  part,  this  tendency  to  slum  life  is  directly  due  to  ignor- 
ance of  gainful  trades.    In  part,  it  is  due  to  lack  of  thrift.     That 
the  illiterate  races  are  less  thrifty  than  others  appears  from  the 
fact   that    the   amount    of   money   brought    by   immigrants   is    in 
inverse  ratio  to  their  illiteracy. 

The  report  of  the  Industrial  Commission  (p.  284)  shows  that 
in  i goo,  while  the  British  and  Germans  brought  from  $30  to  $40 
per  capita,  the  north  Italians  $22,  the  Scandinavians  $17,  the 
Poles,  southern  Italians,  and  Hebrews  brought  less  than  $10, 
although  the  latter  races  were  mostly  single  men,  and  the  former 
brought  many  children. 

8.  The  illiterate  aliens  do  not  have  a  permanent  interest  in  our 
country,  and  seek  not  liberty  but  the  dollar.     This  is  shown  by 
the  absence  of  naturalization  among  them.     The  census  of  1900 
shows  that,  of  males  of  voting  age,  only  one-tenth  of  the  British, 
Germans,  and  Scandinavians  were  aliens,  as  compared  with  over 
one-half  of  Italians  and  Poles. 

(b)   The  Illiteracy  Test  Would  Improve  the  Quality  of 
Immigration 

The  illiterate  races  are  generally  inferior  in  physique,  as 
appears  from  the  fact  many  more  of  them  are  sent  to  the  hospital 
on  arrival.  The  census  of  1904  shows  that  an  illiteracy  test 
would  have  excluded  18  per  cent  of  the  foreign-born  insane  over 
ten  years  of  age  and  30  per  cent  of  the  foreign-born  paupers. 
The  report  of  the  Commissioner-General  for  1904  shows  that  42 
per  cent  of  the  alien  murderers  and  57  per  cent  of  aliens  attempt- 


I38  .       SELECTED    ARTICLES 

ing  to  murder  in  1904  were  of  the  relatively  illiterate  Slavic  and 
Iberic  races.  The  Slavic  and  Iberic  alien  criminals  constituted, 
in  1904,  64  per  cent  of  all  aliens  detained  in  penal,  reformatory, 
and  charitable  institutions,  and  87  per  cent  of  the  alien  inmates 
of  such  institutions  arrived  within  five  years.  The  recent  alarm- 
ing increase  in  insanity  in  New  York  State  is  attributed  by  the 
State  Lunacy  Commission  to  recent  immigration. 

In  the  state  prisons  of  New  York  State  the  number  of  Italians 
and  Russian  inmates  doubled  from  1906  to  1909.  It  is  not 
claimed  that  an  illiteracy  test  would  exclude  all  criminals,  for 
many  of  them  are  well  educated.  But  that  it  would  exclude  a 
considerable  number  appears  from  the  fact  that  over  one-fifth  of 
all  foreign-born  prisoners  in  the  United  States  are  illiterate.  In 
view  of  the  fact  that  the  present  provisions  of  law  specifically 
excluding  criminals  are  almost  impossible  to  enforce,  an  illiter- 
acy test  would  be  of  distinct  value  in  this  regard. 

(c)  It  Is  a  Certain  and  Definite  Test  Easily  Applied — The  Illiterr 
acy  Test  Would  Save  Hardship 

About  44  per  cent  of  those  now  excluded  are  debarred  as 
being  "liable  to  become  public  charges."  In  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  cases  the  alien  can  not  tell  until  he  arrives  here  whether 
he  will  be  debarred  on  this  ground  or  not.  The  phrase  itself  is 
very  elastic.  The  fact  often  is  determined  by  evidence  obtainable 
only  when  the  immigrant  arrives,  such  as  ability  of  relatives  to 
support  him,  pregnancy  of  immigrant  women,  and  other  circum- 
stances. If  an  immigrant  is  debarred,  it  means  often  great 
hardship  to  him  and  to  his  relatives. 

It  is  not  proposed  to  abolish  the  present  requirements  as  to 
economic  sufficiency,  but  in  a  very  large  number  of  cases  those 
debarred  for  this  cause  are  also  illiterate,  and  to  this  extent  an 
illiteracy  test  would  save  hardship,  and  often  the  separation  of 
families.  At  present  this  hardship  tends  to  relax  inspection  on 
the  part  of  sympathetic  officials. 

THE   ILLITERACY   TEST   IS    DEFINITE 

One  defect  in  the  present  law  is  its  vagueness  and  elasticity, 
especially  as  to  the  class  of  persons  "liable  to  become  a  public 
charge."  Ninety  per  cent  of  all  immigrants  are  admitted  by  a 
primary  inspector  without  further  inquiry.  When  any  officials, 
especially  superior  ones,  conscientiously  or  otherwise  favor  a  lax 


ON   IMMIGRATION  139 

interpretation  of  the  law,  its  existing  provisions  are  but  a  small 
protection  to  our  people.  Any  change  from  a  lax  to  a  strict 
interpretation,  or  vice  versa,  is  unjust  to  the  immigrant. 

A  reading  test  in  any  language  or  dialect  the  immigrant  may 
prefer  is  perfectly  simple  and  definite,  and  can  be  evaded  neither 
by  the  immigrant  nor  by  the  inspector. 

An  illiteracy  test  would  diminish  the  work  of  the  boards  of 
special  inquiry  and  give  them  time  for  more  thorough  examina- 
tion of  other  cases. 

THE   ILLITERACY    TEST    CAN   BE   EASILY   AND   EFFICIENTLY    APPLIED 

When  commissioner  at  New  York,  Dr.  J.  H.  Senner,  volun- 
tarily applied  the  test  for  three  months,  and  reported  that  there 
was  no  difficulty  in  using  it  and  no  appreciable  delay  by  reason 
of  it. 

The  theory  of  our  immigration  laws  is  that,  in  the  first  instance, 
the  steamship  companies,  for  their  own  protection,  will  not  sell 
tickets  to  aliens  who  they  know  are  inadmissible.  Although  the 
steamship  companies  are  prone  to  take  chances  on  the  admissi- 
bility  of  an  immigrant,  and  although  it  has  been  found  necessary 
to  fine  them  for  bringing  inadmissible  immigrants  where  such 
inadmissibility  could  have  been  detected  before  embarkation,  yet 
most  of  the  trouble  arises  in  cases  where  neither  the  immigrant 
nor  the  steamship  company  can  be  certain  of  the  result. 

With  the  illiteracy  test  a  part  of  the  law  the  steamship  agents 
would  have  no  excuse  for  bringing  illiterates,  as  it  would  be 
perfectly  simple  for  them  to  ascertain  the  fact  of  illiteracy  at 
the  time  of  selling  the  ticket,  and  the  companies  could  justly  be 
fined  if  they  brought  any  aliens  found  to  be  illiterate. 

This  would  probably  result  not  in  any  great  diminution  of  the 
numbers  of  immigrants,  but  in  a  great  improvement  in  the 
quality.  If  the  steamship  companies  can  not  bring  illiterates, 
they  will  seek  immigrants  who  can  read.  The  falling  off  in  the 
desirable  immigration  from  northwestern  Europe  has  been 
ascribed  by  competent  authorities  to  the  unwillingness  to  com- 
pete with  the  kind  of  immigration  we  are  now  chiefly  getting. 
One  effect  of  the  test  would  be  to  improve  the  sources  as  well  as 
the  quality  of  our  immigration.  Further,  it  is  the  very  ignorant 
peasants  who  are  now  most  easily  induced  to  emigrate  by  unscru- 
pulous steamship  agents  by  false  and  misleading  statements  as  to- 
conditions  of  employment  in  this  country. 


140  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

(d)  Elementary  Education  Desirable  in  Immigrants 

Ability  to  read  is  now  required  for  naturalization.  But  the 
ballot  is  only  one  way  in  which  a  foreign-born  resident  affects 
the  community  at  infrequent  intervals.  In  countless  other  and 
more  important  ways  he  is  affecting  the  community  all  the  time. 
The  newspapers  are  the  chief  source  of  information  as  to  social, 
political,  and  industrial  conditions.  An  immigrant  who  can  not 
read,  unless  in  very  favorable  environment,  will  be  assimilated,  if 
at  all,  much  less  rapidly  than  one  who  can. 

The  ability  to  read  is  essential  not  merely  for  citizenship  but 
for  residence  in  a  democratic  state.  It  helps  the  understanding 
of  labor  conditions  and  the  obtaining  of  employment  under  proper 
environment. 

Then,  again,  how  can  one  obey  the  laws  and  ordinances, 
whether  penal  or  sanitary,  unless  he  can  read  them?  One  diffi- 
culty experienced  today  in  our  large  cities  in  enforcing  sanitary 
regulations  and  preventing  epidemics  is  the  illiteracy  of  large 
masses  of  the  immigrant  population. 

At  the  present  day  even  manual  employment  is  conducted  in  a 
manner  which  makes  the  ability  to  read  desirable,  if  not  indis- 
pensable. Time  slips,  records  of  all  kinds,  are  more  and  more 
used  in  factories  and  shops,  and  the  ability  to  read  and  write  is 
necessary  for  all  but  the  lowest  grades  of  labor. 

(c)  Tlie  Illiteracy  Test  Is  Demanded  by  the  People 

No  single  proposed  addition  to  our  immigration  laws  has 
received  the  indorsement  accorded  to  the  illiteracy  test.  Bills  to 
enact  it  into  law  have  passed  one  or  the  other  House  of  Congress 
seven  times  since  1894,  usually  by  very  large  votes. 

It  has  been  advocated  in  party  platforms  and  presidential 
messages ;  by  the  Farmers'  Educational  and  Cooperative  Union, 
representing  some  3,000,000  farmers  of  the  country,  who  do  not 
want  as  farm  help  the  kind  of  immigrants  we  are  now  receiving; 
by  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  and  the  Knights  of  Labor, 
by  the  patriotic  societies,  by  the  boards  of  associated  charities, 
and  by  thousands  of  other  organizations  and  individuals  in  all 
parts  of  the  country.  Four  thousand  five  hundred  petitions  in 
its  favor  were  sent  to  the  Fifty-seventh  Congress.  A  recent 
canvass  of  leading  citizens,  whose  opinion  was  not  known  before- 
hand, showed  that  93.1  per  cent  favored  further  selection  of 
immigration,  and  81  per  cent  advocated  the  illiteracy  test. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  141 

The  Immigration  Commission,  which  has  been  studying  the 
question  for  nearly  four  years,  says  in  the  statement  of  its  con- 
clusions (p.  40)  :  "The  commission  as  a  whole  recommends 
restriction  as  demanded  by  economic,  moral,  and  social  consid- 
erations. ...  A  majority  of  the  commission  favor  the  read- 
ing and  writing  test  as  the  most  feasible  single  method  of 
restricting  undesirable  immigration."  The  majority  in  this  case 
consisted  of  eight  out  of  nine  members  of  the  commission. 

(f)    General   Remarks 

It  is  often  said,  "A  man  is  not  a  better  man  because  he  can 
read  or  write."  It  is  not  claimed  that  ability  to  read  is  a  test 
of  moral  worth  or  even  in  some  cases  of  industrial  value.  But, 
in  framing  law  for  selecting  immigrants,  as  in  framing  any  law 
of  classification,  we  have  to  consider  classes,  not  individuals. 

Taking  the  world  as  it  is,  we  find,  on  a  broad  view,  that  the 
illiterate  races,  and  especially  the  illiterate  individuals  of  those 
races,  are  the  ones  who  are  undesirable,  not  merely  for  illiteracy, 
but  for  other  reasons.  Those  who  are  ignorant  of  language  are, 
in  general,  those  who  are  ignorant  of  a  trade,  are  of  po'or 
physique,  are  less  thrifty,  tend  to  settle  in  the  cities  and  to  create 
city  slums,  tend  to  become  dependent  upon  public  or  private 
charity,  even  if  not  actual  criminals  and  paupers,  have  little 
permanent  interest  in  the  country,  and  are  unfitted  for  citizenship 
in  a  free  and  enlightened  democracy. 

An  illiteracy  test  would  undoubtedly  shut  out  some  unobjec- 
tionable individuals,  but  the  absence  of  it  is  causing  untold  hard- 
ships to  thousands  already  in  the  country.  Let  the  immigrant 
who  seeks  to  throw  in  his  lot  here  take  at  least  the  trouble  to 
acquire  the  slight  amount  of  training  necessary  to  satisfy  this 
requirement,  and  thus  show  that  he  appreciates  the  advantages  he 
seeks  to  share. 


Journal  of  Education.     80:567-70.  December  10,  1914 

Literacy  and  the  Immigrant.     W.  D.  Parkinson 

Some  degree  of  restriction  we  are  all  agreed  upon.  At  any 
rate,  the  nation  has  already  set  up  restrictions  and  there  is  little 
prospect  that  it  will  ever  venture  to  remove  them  without  sub- 
stituting others.  Some  basis  must  be  sought  that  is  not  incon- 


142  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

sistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  great  experiment  itself.  Any  accep- 
table check  must,  too,  be  capable  of  ready  application,  and  it  must 
also  be  in  some  degree  a  test  of  qualification.  That  is,  it  must 
tend  in  the  main  to  admit  those  who  possess  in  a  superior  degree 
desirable  qualifications  for  promoting  our  main  experiment,  and 
it  must  in  the  main  tend  to  include  those  who  possess  those  quali- 
fications in  inferior  degree.  No  test  will  ever  be  found  which  will 
admit  only  the  fit  and  exclude  only  the  unfit.  No  human  inge- 
nuity has  ever  devised  such  a  perfectly  discriminating  line  as 
that.  All  that  can  be  hoped  is  that  the  test  shall  operate  in 
general  to  admit  desirables  and  to  exclude  undesirables. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  qualification  for  immigration  both  of 
which  are  of  vital  concern  to  this  country.  One  is  the  kind  which 
it  is  possible  to  impart  after  arrival.  The  other  is  the  kind  that 
must  either  be  brought  with  the  immigrant  or  be  permanently 
waived  in  his  case.  Racial  qualifications  are  of  the  latter  kind. 
So  are  physical  qualifications  and  mental  qualifications,  generally 
speaking.  No  one  objects  to  the  exclusion  of  the  feeble-minded 
and  of  those  afflicted  with  transmissible  disease  or  with  infirmity 
that  disqualifies  for  self-support,  or  of  those  known  to  be  morally 
delinquent.  But  to  exclude  these  does  not  meet  the  main  question. 
The  ability  to  use  a  written  language  has  been  proposed  as  an 
available  test.  The  proposal  has  called  forth  many  sentimental 
protests,  but  its  practical  effect  has  received  little  attention.  It, 
like  all  other  tests,  will  admit  some  undesirables  and  exclude 
some  desirables.  The  determining  question  should  be  whether  in 
the  main  it  would  discriminate  favorably  to  a  safer  class  of 
immigrants. 

It  is  said  that  literacy  is  not  a  test  of  ability  and  this  is  true. 
It  is  said  it  is  not  a  test  of  ability  to  earn  a  living.  This  also  is 
true.  It  is  not  even  a  sure  test  of  intelligence.  It  is,  however,  a 
test  of  certain  serious  obstructions  in  the  way  of  success  of  our 
great  experiment,  so  serious  that  our  states  are  just  awakening  to 
the  necessity  of  attempting  at  very  large  expense  to  remove  them. 
Is  it  best  to  invite  those  who  bring  us  burdens  that  must  be  re- 
moved, equally  with  those  who  are  glad  to  come  without  them? 

We  in  America  have  had  our  seasons  of  over-valuing  the 
ability  to  read  and  write.  Our  schools  are  in  process  of  reaction 
from  an  excessive  emphasis  upon  it. 

Nevertheless  written  language  is  itself  a  useful  tool,  and  the 
ability  to  use  one  of  some  sort  or  other  does  signify  something 


ON   IMMIGRATION  143 

in  civilized  society ;  and  recent  developments  ought  to  awaken 
the  country  to  the  fact  that  these  affairs  are  of  considerable 
moment  to  the  success  of  our  great  experiment.  No  one  questions 
that  ability  to  read  and  write  our  own  language  constitutes  a 
qualification  for  American  citizenship,  but  this  is  a  qualification 
that  can  be  acquired  after  arrival.  It  is,  however,  a  much  easier 
and  a  much  less  expensive  task  to  impart  that  ability  to  those 
who  are  already  familiar  with  another  written  language  than  to 
begin  at  the  beginning.  The  difference  of  cost  in  dollars  and  cents 
between  the  task  of  teaching  the  English  language  to  tens  of 
thousands  of  immigrants  who  know  nothing  of  written  language 
and  that  of  teaching  the  same  language  to  similar  numbers  of 
those  who  do,  and  the  difference  in  the  success  of  the  undertaking 
in  the  two  cases,  are  enough  to  count  for  something  in  making 
our  choice  between  the  two  classes  of  immigrants. 

But  the  ability  to  read  and  write  constitutes  a  qualification  for 
assimilation  in  a  much  larger  sense  than  this.  The  revelations  of 
disorder  in  our  mining  regions,  of  anarchy  in  some  of  our  manu- 
facturing cities,  of  uncivilized  conditions  in  constructive  camps, 
and  of  degradation  in  city  slums  and  in  those  rural  districts  which 
the  immigration  population  has  inundated,  have  led  several  states 
to  appoint  commissions  to  study  the  conditions  of  the  immigrant 
population  and  the  methods  being  employed  to  introduce  them  to 
American  institutions.  That  there  is  need  of  some  more  intelli- 
gent and  adequate  method  of  making  these  people  understand  us 
and  our  ways  and  our  disposition  towards  them,  and  of  making 
us  understand  them  and  their  disposition  toward  ourselves  and 
our  institutions  and  laws,  is  the  invariable  report  of  such  com- 
missions and  the  universal  verdict  of  those  who  have  given  atten- 
tion to  the  question.  We  were  going  on  our  way  rejoicing,  assum- 
ing that  our  free  air  was  transforming  fugitives  from  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  into  full  grown  Americans,  when  we  sud- 
denly discovered  that  there  were  in  our  midst  destructive  forces 
threatening  to  overthrow  our  institutions.  Whole  populations 
from  backward  portions  of  the  old  world,  bringing  with  them 
their  own  standards  of  living,  their  own  social  customs,  their  in- 
grained suspicions  of  government,  have  settled  themselves  like  a 
swarm  of  flies  upon  communities  unprepared  to  receive  them. 
Unaccquainted  with  our  institutions,  trespassing  in  their  ignor- 
ance, bewildered  by  the  measures  employed  to  guard  against  their 
tendencies,  often  misjudged,  often  exploited,  unable  to  under- 


144  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

stand  and  equally  unable  to  make  themselves  understood,  they  are 
thrown  back  upon  their  old-world  methods  of  self-preservation. 
Communities  thus  awake  suddenly  to  find  themselves  powerless 
to  enforce  American  standards.  The  residents  who  have  given 
character  to  the  community  move  out  and  leave  the  field  to  the 
element  that  exploits  the  ignorant.  Mary  Antin  moves  from 
Dover  Street  to  Roxbury  and  is  troubled  that  her  new  neighbor, 
helpless  to  meet  the  changing  conditions,  herself  moves  from 
Roxbury  to  some  section  a  little  farther  up  the  line. 

The  marvelous  stories  of  Riis  and  Steiner  and  Mary  Antin 
and  Rihbany,  inspiring  as  they  are,  yet  make  it  plain  not  only  that 
we  are  treating  masses  of  adult  and  illiterate  immigrants  with 
abominable  cruelty  because  we  have  not  the  means  of  protecting 
them,  but  that  by  inviting  their  presence  under  such  conditions 
we  are  giving  free  reign  to  a  corrupt  and  corrupting  element  in 
our  own  population.  Why  these  conditions?  Because  the  immi- 
grants coming  in  such  masses  have  not  understood  us  nor  we 
them;  because  our  institutions  have  been  misinterpreted  to  them. 
Because,  indeed,  we  have  left  the  interpretation  to  those  who 
chose  to  undertake  the  task,  who  had  means  of  communicating 
with  them  that  we  had  not,  and  that  we  disdain ;  and  because  the 
self-appointed  interpreters  have  not  themselves  appreciated  our 
democracy.  In  the  next  few  years,  there  will  be  great  endeavor 
upon  the  part  of  our  states  and  municipalities  to  devise  means  for 
doing  systematically  and  intelligently  this  work  of  interpretation. 
The  day  of  haphazard  policy  is  past.  And  when  the  task  is  seri- 
ously undertaken,  it  will  be  found  that  the  problem  is  a  vastly 
different  and  more  difficult  one  in  the  case  of  peoples  who  can  be 
reached  by  writing  and  print  than  in  the  case  of  those  who  can  be 
reached  only  by  word  of  mouth.  Given  two.  distinct  masses  of 
strangers  to  our  ways  and  our  purposes,  one  of  which  cannot  be 
reached  by  printed  matter,  to  the  individuals  of  which  mails  do 
not  carry,  circular  letters  mean  nothing,  printed  warnings,  posted 
notices,  directions,  proclamations  and  laws,  even  street  signs  and 
inscriptions  have  no  significance,  and  the  other  of  which  can  be 
reached  individually  and  collectively  by  writing  or  by  print,  and  it 
must  be  evident  to  anyone  that  the  two  present  to  the  nation  in 
its  attempt  to  assimilate  them  and  to  make  them  safe  recruits  to 
our  social  system  two  very  different  problems,  one  vastly  more 
difficult  than  the  other. 

Some  humorist  has  defined  a  pessimist  as  a  person  who  being 


ON   IMMIGRATION  145 

offered  the  choice  of  two  evils,  takes  both.  Having  thrust  upon 
it  these  two  difficult  problems,  shall  the  nation  choose  between 
them  or  shall  it  undertake  them  both?  To  choose  the  easier  one 
and  refuse  the  other  would  simplify  the  task.  It  would,  at  the 
same  time,  limit  to  a  degree  the  already  too  rapid  influx  of  im- 
migration with  its  attendant  evils  of  lowered  standards  of  living 
and  racial  antagonisms.  Even  if  we  have  resources  to  spare  for 
solving  just  such  problems,  might  we  not  better  employ  them  with 
complete  efficiency  upon  one  of  these  two,  and  if  there  is  any 
surplus,  devote  it  to  improving  conditions  in  the  benighted  re- 
gions of  our  own  land,  instead  of  inviting  other  millions  to  come 
and  be  experimented  upon  while  we  continue  to  neglect  our  own? 
The  literacy  test  is  not  a  sure  test  of  character.  It  is  not  even 
a  sure  test  of  industrial  efficiency,  or  of  economic  stability.  But  it 
does  determine  better  than  any  other  test  yet  proposed  a  certain 
qualification  of  the  immigrant  for  socialization  and  Americaniza- 
tion in  the  mass.  It  does  this  without  throwing  the  balance  the 
wrong  way  as  regards  the  moral,  industrial,  or  economic  factors. 
For  whatever  doubt  there  may  be  as  to  the  inferiority  in  these 
particulars  of  the  illiterate  masses,  no  one  has  yet  been  heard  to 
claim  for  them  a  superiority  over  the  literate.  The  literacy  test 
has,  moreover,  the  great  advantage  of  being  readily  applicable 
at  the  point  of  departure  as  well  as  at  arrival,  and  of  being  equally 
applicable  to  all,  independently  of  other  considerations  of  condi- 
tion or  fortune  or  race  or  caste. 


NEGATIVE  DISCUSSION 

North  American  Review.     199:866-78.     June,  1914 
Crux  of  the  Immigration  Question.     A.  Piatt  Andrew 

It  is  easy  to  echo  the  cry  of  prejudice  if  you  happen  to  be  of 
Anglo-Saxon  descent,  and  to  assume  an  air  of  superiority  and 
denounce  the  Italians,  Greeks,  Poles,  Bohemians,  and  Russian 
Jews,  as  if  they  ranked  somewhere  between  man  and  the  beast, 
but  were  not  yet  wholly  human.  The  same  intolerant  attitude 
of  mind  among  the  Anglo-Saxon  Puritan  settlers  of  early  colonial 
days  led  to  the  whipping,  imprisonment,  banishment,  and  even 
hanging  of  Quakers  and  others  of  unlike  religious  beliefs.  If 
you  share  these  prejudices  today,  walk  some  Sunday  afternoon 
through  the  galleries  of  the  art-museums  in  our  large  cities  and 
note  who  are  the  people  most  interested  in  their  treasures ; 
inquire  at  the  public  libraries  who  are  their  most  appreciative 
patrons ;  visit  the  night  schools  and  observe  who  constitute  their 
most  eager  classes;  study  the  lineage  of  the  ranking  students  in 
our  universities  and  you  will  find  that  our  libraries,  art-galleries, 
universities,  and  schools  often  find  their  best  patrons  among  the 
offspring  of  these  despised  races  of  southern  and  eastern  Europe. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  the  newer  immigrants  are  inferior  i 
to  the  old.  It  is  only  the  recurrence  of  a  groundless  prejudice 
which  makes  some  people  feel  so.  But  even  if  the  new  immigra- 
tion is  not  inferior  in  character  to  the  old,  we  have  still  to  ask 
whether  there  is  not  a  menace  in  the  very  numbers  of  the  immi- 
grants now  coming  in.  We  hear  a  great  deal  these  days  about 
the  alarming  increase  in  immigration.  We  are  told  that  more 
than  a  million  foreign-born  are  coming  into  this  country  every 
year,  that  the  number  is  increasing  as  never  before,  and  that  the 
country  cannot  absorb  so  great  an  influx.  What  are  the  facts 
in  this  regard? 

As  to  the  amount  of  recent  immigration,  the  tide  ebbs  and 
flows  with  the  alternating  advances  and  recessions  of  business, 
and  the  tendency  is  for  each  successive  wave  to  reach  a  higher 


10 


148  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

level  than  its  predecessors.  In  1854  a  record  of  428,000  arrivals 
was  established;  then  there  was  a  great  recession,  and  in  1873 
a  new  high  level  of  460,000  was  reached.  The  next  wave  cul- 
minated in  1882  with  789,000,  and  in  1907  the  highest  of  all 
immigrant  records  was  reached,  1,285,000.  During  the  last  ten 
years  the  average  number  of  immigrants  arriving  in  this  country 
has  not  fallen  much  short  of  a  million  per  year,  and  this  figure 
considered  by  itself  does  look  portentious.  One  must  bear  in 
mind,  however,  that  it  represents  only  one  side  of  the  ledger 
and  is  subject  to  very  heavy  deductions.  If  you  are Teekbning  the 
extent  to  which  your  property  has  increased  during  a  given 
period,  it  does  not  suffice  merely  to  count  up  the  income.  You 
must  also  deduct  the  outgo.  f  And  if  you  are  reckoning  the 
actual  addition  to  our  population  which  results  from  immigration, 
if  you  would  have  in  mind  the  actual  number  of  immigrants  that 
we  have  had  to  absorb,  you  must  take  account  of  both  sides  of 
the  ledger,  of  the  outgo  as  well  as  of  the  income.  During  the 
last  six  years  the  number  of  departing  aliens  has  been  carefully 
collated,  and  it  appears  that  from  400,000  to  700,000  aliens  depart 
from  the  United  States  every  year.  This  leaves  a  net  balance  of 
arriving  aliens  of  only  about  550,000  per  year,  or  only  about  one- 
half  of  the  total  that  is  commonly  cited  as  representing  the 
annual  influx.  Even  this  figure  may  look  precarious,  however, 
until  we  have  considered  it  in  its  appropriate  relations  and  com- 
parisons. 

The  capacity  of  the  country  to  assimilate  the  incoming  thou- 
sands without  any  serious  modification  of  our  institutions  or 
standards  depends  in  part  upon  two  conditions :  first,,  upon  the 
proportion  which  the  aliens  bear  to  the  resident  population  by 
which  they  are  to  be  absorbed,  and,  second,  upon  whether  the 
country  is  already  approaching  the  saturation  point  as  regards 
the  density  of  its  population.  Now  the  proportion  of  foreign- 
born  in  our  total  population  has  not  varied  much  in  recent 
decades,1  and  even  in  the  record  year  of  1907  the  percentage  of 
immigrants  to  population  was  lower  than  it  has  been  on  several 
other  occasions  during  the  past  sixty  years.  As  compared  with 
the  population  of  the  country  the  immigration  of  recent  years 

1  PERCENTAGE   OF  FOREIGN-BORN   IN   TOTAL  POPULATION 

1860 13-2  1890 14.7 

1870 14-4  JQOO 13.6 

1880 .' 13.3  iQio 14-7 

—Thirteenth  Census  of  the  United  States.     Abstract,  page  80. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  149 

has  not  bulked  as  large  as  the  immigration  of  the  early  fifties,1 
and  if  we  consider  only  the  net  immigration,  it  makes  today 
an  addition  to  the  total  population  of  the  country  of  only  a 
little  more  than  one-half  of  i  per  cent  per  year. 

Nor  need  one  fear  that  we  are  reaching  the  point  in  this 
country  where  population  presses  upon  the  means  of  subsistence. 
The  number  of  our  people  will  have  to  be  multiplied  sixfold  to 
equal  the  density  of  the  population  of  France,  to  be  multiplied 
tenfold  to  equal  that  of  Germany  or  that  of  Italy,  and  to  be 
multiplied  eighteenfold  to  equal  that  of  England.  If  the  present 
population  of  the  whole  United  States  were  located  in  the  State 
of  Texas  alone,  there  would  still  not  be  two-thirds  as  many 
inhabitants  per  square  mile  in  that  state  as  there  are  today  in 
England.  One  must,  indeed,  have  little  faith  in  the  future  of  the 
United  States  who,  in  the  face  of  such  comparisons,  believes 
that  the  population  of  this  country  as  a  whole  is  approaching  the 
saturation  point,  or  that  from  the  standpoint  of  the  country  as 
a  whole  we  need  be  terrified  by  the  dimensions  of  present  immi- 
gration. It  amounts  in  annual  net  to  little  more  than  one-half 
of  i  per  cent  of  our  present  population,  and  that  population  will 
have  to  increase  many  hundred  per  cent  before  we  have  reached 
a  density  remotely  approaching  that  of  any  of  the  leading 
countries  of  Europe. 

There  will,  of  course,  always  be  timid  Americans  who  will 
wonder  how  we  can  possibly  hope  to  assimilate  foreigners  to  the 
extent  of  as  much  as  one-half  of  i  per  cent  of  our  population  per 
year  and  who  would  prefer  to  see  the  country  relatively  weak 
and  undeveloped  than  run  the  risk  of  continuing  the  experiment. 
When  Jefferson  proposed  to  purchase  all  of  the  great  territory 
west  of  the  Mississippi  known  as  Louisiana,  the  citizens  of 
Boston  organized  a  public  meeting  to  protest  against  the  project. 
They  thought  it  would  destroy  the  relative  influence  of  New 
England  in  the  country's  affairs,  and  they  thought  that  the 
United  States  could  not  assimilate  so  vast  a  territory;  and 
though  their  fears  have  been  proven  not  only  groundless  but 
absurd  by  subsequent  history,  there  are  many  still  in  Boston  and 
elsewhere  in  the  country  who  feel  that  our  powers  of  assimila- 

i  PERCENTAGE   OF   INCREASE    OF    FOREIGN-BORN    DECENIALLY 

1850-1860 84.4         1880-1890 38.5 

1860-1870 34.5         1890-1900 ii. 8 

1870-1880 20.0  I900-I9IO 30.7 

—Thirteenth  Census  of  the  United  States.     Abstract,  page  80. 


150  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

tion  have  now  reached  their  limit  of  capacity  and  ought  not  to  be 
further  taxed. 

There  will,  of  course,  always  be  Americans  absorbed  in  history 
arid  genealogy  who  will  sigh  for  the  good  old  days  when  America 
was  only  a  sparsely  settled  fringe  of  seaboard  states,  and  who 
will  wish  that  the  population  of  the  country  might  still  consist 
of  the  Sons  and  Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  the  Colonial 
Dames,  and  the  Sons  of  the  Colonial  Wars.  This  might,  indeed, 
have  been  a  pleasant  condition  from  certain  points  of  view,  but 
of  one  thing  we  may  be  certain :  this  country  today  would  not 
be  settled  from  coast  to  coast;  our  cities  would  not  be  a  fifth 
of  their  present  size ;  our  powers  as  a  nation  and  our  prosperity  $ 
as  individuals  would  only  have  been  a  fraction  of  what  they  are  . 
had  immigration  been  prevented. 


American  Economic  Review.   4:93-108.    March,  1914 

Some  Aspects  of  the  Immigration  Problem.    Max  J.  Kohler 

Professor  Henry  P.  Fairchild,  in  his  newly  published  work 
on  "Immigration"  unlike  most  other  recent  restrictionist  writers 
who  have  commonly  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  Immigration 
Commission,  out-heroding  Gen.  Walker,  argues  that  until  our 
Revolutionary  War,  we  had  practically  no  "immigration"  at  all, 
the  arrivals  being  substantially  all  "colonists"  of  English  or  allied 
stock,  Protestant  in  creed,  and  therefore  homogeneous  and  Eng- 
lish; that  then  our  American  institutions  were  established,  and 
the  immigrants  who  have  since  come  over,  being  of  other  race 
or  creed,  have  jeopardized  our  American  institutions,  economic, 
political,  and  social ;  and  have  merely  prevented  a  corresponding 
or  even  greater  native  growth,  which,  presumably,  because  of  the 
"superior"  English  stock,  would  have  accomplished  far  more 
than  even  the  old  immigration  accomplished. 

From  historical  investigations,  however,  we  learn  a  different 
story.  Bancroft,  many  years  ago,  said :  "The  United  States 
were  severally  colonized  by  men  in  origin,  religious  faith,  and 
purposes  as  varied  as  their  climes."  Differences  in  language, 
customs,  education,  and  views,  on  the  one  hand,  and  lack  of 
assimilative  agencies  here,  on  the  other,  made  the  Germans, 
Swiss,  Swedes,  Dutch,  and  Irish  immigrants  coming  over  before 
1881  no  whit  less  easy  to  assimilate  than  are  the  new  immigrants 


ON  IMMIGRATION  151 

in  our  own  day :  and  the  extent  and  degree  of  these  differences 
Vnd  difficulties  were  emphasized  again  and  again,  about  sixty 
years  ago,  by  Know-nothings  and  their  predecessors,  in  substan- 
tially the  same  terms  used  by  the  restrictionists,  in  our  own  day. 
In  the  former  period  the  "Teutonic  stock  theory"  was  not 
available  as  a  test  of  desirability  of  immigrants,  because  mem- 
bers of  this  great  stock  were  then  being  abused  by  the  provin- 
cialists,  but  today,  consistency  presumably  requires  that  the  Irish 
be  placed  in  the  Teutonic  class. 

The  period  from  1820  to  1881  was  marked  by  a  continuance 
of  the  same  stream  of  immigrants  that  had  characterized  the 
earlier  period,  except  that  the  numbers  became  somewhat  greater, 
by  reason  of  financial  depression  abroad,  famines,  and  occasional 
political  and  religious  unrest,  on  the  one  hand,  and  superior  in- 
dustrial and  political  opportunity  here,  on  the  other.  Kapp, 
writing  as  far  back  as  1870,  well  said  that  "the  territory  which 
constitutes  the  present  United  States  owes  its  wonderful  develop- 
ment mainly  to  the  influx  of  the  poor  and  outcast  of  Europe;" 
and  he  noted  a  fact  which  could  be  fully  recognized  only  since 
we  began  to  collate  accurate  statistics  of  emigration  from  the 
United  States  in  1907 — that  "bad  times  in  Europe  regularly 
increase,  and  bad  times  in  America  invariably  decrease,  immi- 
gration." The  figures  he  presents  as  to  the  illiteracy  of  the 
immigrants  of  1868,  made  up  almost  wholly  of  German,  Swiss, 
Irish,  Scotch,  and  English,  are  interesting  as  being  substantially 
the  same  as  prevail  today;  7,397  immigrants  for  whom  positions 
were  secured,  out  of  31,143,  could  neither  read  nor  write,  there 
being  3,096  illiterate  males  out  of  18,114,  and  4,301  females  out 
of  13,029.  There  were  2,714  Irish,  Scotch,  and  English  illiterates 
out  of  9,269;  and  out  of  23,315  Irish,  Scotch,  and  English  female 
servants  7,682  could  neither  read  nor  write. 

During  the  period  from  1821  to  1881  over  10,000,000  immi- 
grants came  to  this  country,  and  in  the  period  from  1881  through 
1910  over  17,000,000  more,  these  figures  making  no  allowance  for 
returning  immigrants  or  immigrants  coming  again.  The  average 
of  13,802  per  year  for  the  decade  1820  to  1830  rose  to  59,913 
per  year  for  the  following  decade,  and  to  171,235  per  year  be- 
tween 1841  and  1850,  259,524  per  year  the  next  decade,  then 
fell  to  231,482  to  rise  again  in  successive  decades  to  281,219, 
524,661,  368,756,  and  to  879,539  per  year  for  the  last  decade.- 
In  1842  the  hundred-thousand  mark  was  passed,  and  in  1905  the 


152  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

million  mark.  The  reports  of  the  Commissioner  General  of  Im- 
migration show  that  from  1820  to  1912  the  various  countries 
sent  us  immigrants  in  the  following  numbers : 

1820-1912  Since  1881 

Netherlands    190,954  143,746 

France 487,504  171,262 

Switzerland    244,364  155,052 

Scandinavia    2,014,245  1,603,178 

Italy 3,426,377  3,345,096 

Germany   ' 5,411,444  2,359,469 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland   7,95 1,671  3,410,049 

Austria    3,5 io,379a  3,429,634 

Russia    2,712,316  2,704,815 

Other  countries 3,661,000 

a  Since   1861 

These  figures  show  that  although  the  countries  of  northern 
and  western  Europe  no  longer  furnish  the  same  percentage  of 
immigrants  as  before  1881,  they  continue  sending  appreciable 
numbers ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  they  indicate  that  the  coun- 
tries of  southern  and  eastern  Europe  had  sent  us  some  immi- 
grants long  before  1881.  They  reflect  also  the  great  economic 
development  of  the  countries  of  western  and  northern  Europe, 
which  accounts  for  decrease  of  immigration  from  there,  and 
the  economic  backwardness  and  religious  and  political  per- 
secution of  the  southern  and  eastern  countries. 

Of  the  immigrants  of  the  period  1899-1910,  26.7  per  cent  of 
those  fourteen  years  old  or  over  could  not  read  or  write  (35.8 
per  cent  of  the  new  immigrants  and  2.7  per  cent  of  the  old). 

The  percentage  of  illiteracy  in  each  group  was  as  follows : 

South  Italians   53.9  Bohemians  and  Moravians   ....  1.7 

Hebrews    26.  English    i. 

Polish 35.4  French   6.3 

Lithuanians 48.9  Germans    5.2 

Croatians  and  Slovenians 36.1  North  Italians   1 1.5 

Greeks   26.4  Irish   2.6 

Russian   38.4  Welsh 34.9 

The  government  figures  for  the  fiscal  year  of  1912  show  that 
63  per  cent  of  the  immigrants  for  that  year  were  males,  and 
that  21  per  cent  of  the  males  over  14  years  old  were  illiterate, 
and  nearly  25  per  cent  of  the  females.  The  Immigration  Com- 
.mission,  in  its  report  on  "Emigration  Conditions  Abroad"  shows, 
however,  that  the  percentage  of  literacy  among  the  immigrants 


ON  IMMIGRATION  153 

from  southern  and  eastern  Europe  is  very  much  higher,  in 
general,  than  that  for  those  foreign  countries  at  large,  indicating 
that  we  still  get  the  more  intelligent  and  enterprising  of  such 
races.  Even  in  these  countries,  people  are  now  reasonably 
familiar  in  practice  with  the  exercise  of  the  suffrage  and  repre- 
sentative government. 

It  is  time  that  we  turned  to  authorities  who  are  familiar 
with  the  new  immigrants  in  our  midst,  their  past  experiences 
here,  and  the  agencies  open  to  Americanize  them,  for  light  on 
this  problem.  Immigrants  from  nearly  all  of  the  various  races 
from  southern  and  eastern  Europe  have  been  settled  here  for 
many  years,  and  we  learn  almost  uniformly  that  there  has  been 
little  difficulty  in  Americanizing  and  assimilating  them. 

When  we  turn,  to  a  study  of  the  genesis  and  potency  of  the 
agencies  provided  for  the  assimilation  of  the  immigrant,  his 
Americanization  and  improvement,  we  notice  that  nearly  all  have 
been  developed  during  the  past  few  decades,  and  were  unavail- 
able to  the  old  immigrant.  Even  educational  facilities  for  the 
immigrant  were  formerly  most  elementary  and  inadequate,  while 
we  have  today  night  schools  with  special  immigrant  classes, 
social  settlements  and  educational  alliances,  industrial,  trade  and 
vocational  schools,  instruction  in  civics,  improved  foreign  news- 
papers, and  public  lectures  in  foreign  language. 

Federal  and  state  bureaus  of  information  for  immigrants  and 
resident  laborers,  employment  bureaus,  immigrant  aid  societies, 
immigrant  service  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  and 
of  other  church  organizations,  and  such  organizations  as  the 
Italian  Immigrant  Bureau,  the  Industrial  Removal  Office,  the 
HeWw  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Aid  Society,  the  Hebrew 
Sheltering  and  Immigrant  Aid  Society,  the  Baron  de  Hirsch 
Fund,  and  other  similar  organizations  throughout  the  land,  do 
effective  work  in  Americanizing  the  immigrant,  finding  employ- 
ment for  him  at  good  wages,  overcoming  tendencies  towards  con- 
gestion, effecting  distribution,  and  promoting  acquisition  of 
American  standards  of  living  and  thinking.  Of  course,  such 
agencies  deserve  and  require  unlimited  extension  and  develop- 
ment; and  in  a  number  of  our  states,  regulative  legislation  is 
badly  needed,  especially  as  applying  to  mining  and  labor  camps. 

In  the  light  of  these  agencies  the  unbiased  student  cannot 
but  conclude  that  the  assimilative  process  today,  even  among 
the  newer  races  in  question,  is  far  more  potent  than  it  was  in  the 


154  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

old  immigration.     Mr.  Bryce,  in  the  new  edition  of  his  "Ameri- 
can Commonwealth"  sums  up  the  philosophy  of  this  process  : 

The  point  in  which  the  present  case  of  race  fusion  most  differs  from  all 
preceding  cases,  is  in  the  immense  assimilative  potency  of  the  environment. 
The  effigy  and  device,  so  to  speak,  which  the  American  die 
impresses  on  every  kind  of  metal  placed  beneath  the  stamp,  is  sharp  and 
clear.  The  schools,  the  newspapers,  the  political  institutions,  the  methods 
of  business,  the  social  usages,  the  general  spirit  in  which  things  are  done, 
all  grasp  and  mould  and  remake  a  newcomer  from  the  first  day  of  his 
arrival,  and  turn  out  an  American  far  more  quickly  and  more  completely 
than  the  like  influences  transform  a  stranger  into  a  citizen  in  any  other 
country.  These  things  strengthen  the  assimilative  force  of  American  civil- 
ization, because  here  the  ties  that  held  the  stranger  to  the  land  of  his  birth 
are  quickly  broken  and  soon  forgotten.  His  transformation  is  all  the  swifter 
and  more  thorough  because  it  is  a  willing  transformation. 

William  D.  Howells  has  said:  "I  believe  we  have  been  the 
better,  we  have  really  been  the  more  American,  for  each  succes- 
sive assimilation  in  the  past,  and  I  believe  we  shall  be  the  better, 
the  more  American,  for  that  which  seems  the  next  in  order." 
Mr.  Bryce  also  suggests  that  nearly  all  "the  instreaming  races 
are  equal  in  intelligence  to  the  present  inhabitants;"  that  a 
blending  of  races  tends  to  stimulate  intellectual  fertility ;  and 
that  the  Jews,  Poles,  and  Italians  are  likely  to  "carry  the  creative 
power  of  the  country  to  a  higher  level  of  production"  than  it 
has  yet  reached.  He  also  notes  that  "today,  most  of  the  hard, 
rough  toil  of  the  country  is  everywhere  done  by  recent  inhabitants 
from  central  or  southern  Europe.  The  Irish  and  the  urban 
part  of  the  German  population  have  risen  in  the  scale,  and 
no  longer  form  the  bottom  stratum."  As  to  attempted  compara- 
tive valuations  of  races,  we  should  not  forget  Professor  Royce's^ 
scathing  analysis  of  the  phenomenon  in  his  "Race  Questions  and 
Provincialism  and  Other  American  Problems."  It  is  in  initiat- 
ing and  developing  salutary  public  and  private  agencies  for 
distributing  and  Americanizing  aliens,  that  a  true  solution  of 
the  immigration  problem  can  be  found. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  155 

Century.    73:633-8.    February,  1907 

Human  Side  of  Immigration.     John  Graham  Brooks 

Let  me  first  put  my  thesis  into  the  form  of  a  personal  experi- 
ence— a  day's  tramp  in  southern  Italy  to  see  the  peasantry  at 
work  in  the  poorer  farming  districts.  In  Naples  I  was  encour- 
aged to  do  this  by  an  Italian  who  had  come  back  after  seven 
years  of  successful  fruit-vending1  in  Boston.  In  one  of  the  lower 
suburbs  he  had  restored  the  poor  shanty  of  his  boyhood  to 
something  like  luxury.  His  father,  mother,  and  a  crippled  sister 
lived  there  amid  comforts  that  were  like  the  chink  of  gold  to  a 
local  emigrant  agent,  who  had  only  to  point  to  this  household 
as  the  most  persuasive  of  object-lessons. 

"I  can  sell  more  tickets,"  he  said,  "by  showing  such  homes 
as  that  than  by  all  my  other  advertisements  put  together.  From 
his  commission  business  in  Naples  Nello  comes  out  here  once  a 
week,  and  is  always  ready  to  tell  them  what  he  did  in  Boston, 
arid  what  his  two  sisters  earn  in  the  market  gardens  at  Arlington. 
These  restored  homes,  together  with  the  money  and  letters 
pouring  in  from  the  States,  are  filling  the  ships  with  emigrants." 

Nello  was  eager  for  the  tramp  into  the  country.  He  wished 
to  show  me  the  contrasts  between  the  life  of  the  farm  laborer 
there  and  that  of  the  Italian  immigrant  in  America.  We  both 
had  in  mind  the  wages,  clothing,  food,  and  housing  of  Italian 
men  and  women  at  work  upon  the  soil  and  in  fruit  industries 
about  Boston. 

Less  than  an  hour  by  rail  from  Naples,  we  found  the  workers 
at  their  tasks.  In  no  tested  case  was  the  day's  wage  more  than 
a  third  of  what  is  paid  with  us ;  in  others  it  was  not  a  fourth, 
and  in  extreme  cases,  a  fifth.  The  contrast  in  food  and  clothing 
was  sharper  still.  If  we  include  the  huts  in  which  they  slept,  we 
have  the  measure  of  the  "standard  of  living"  there  and  here.  It 
seems  to  me  an  understatement  to  say  that  the  standard  is  three 
times  as  high  with  us.  Indeed,  if  one  were  to  select  an  Italian 
colony  in  some  of  the  California  fruit  regions,  the  contrast  can 
have  no  statistical  expression  whatever.  The  lower  estate  is,  as 
upon  the  farm  to  which  I  went,  essentially  that  of  slaves  toiling 
on  the  bare  outer  margin  of  physical  existence.  The  higher 
estate  (as  in  Sonoma  county)  is  that  of  almost  boisterous  suc- 
cess. The  courage,  hope,  gaiety  of  the  Italian  in  that  charmed 


156  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

western  valley  are  fairly  flaunting.  On  a  large  farm  east  of 
Rome,  yet  so  near  that  I  could  see  St.  Peter's  dome^  the  field 
hands  had  every  mark  of  half-fed  and  over-weighted  animals. 
Listless,  heavy-footed,  they  were  drudging  for  their  30  cents  with 
no  more  interest  than  that  of  the  ox  which  one  of  them  goaded 
on.  Here,  too,  were  living  several  families  released  from  debt, 
mortgages,  and  rents  by  fathers  and  children  in  America.  One 
home  had  become  the  envy  of  the  little  village,  restored  by  the 
father,  who  had  come  back  to  stay.  More  than  the  dollars,  he 
had  brought  back  ideas  about  sanitation,  about  the  school,  about 
gardening,  and  specially  about  methods  of  marketing  fruit  that 
made  him  a  power  in  the  community.  If  we  multiply  the  influ- 
ence of  this  man  in  Europe  by  many  thousands,  we  have  a 
glimpse  at  least  of  the  neglected  side  of  immigration  problems. 

Simple  as  these  incidents  are,  they  gave  me,  eight  years  ago, 
the  first  hint  of  what  I  had  never  heard  discussed — the  reactions 
of  our  immigration  on  other  countries.  Pro  and  con,  for  half 
my  life,  I  had  heard  the  dispute  over  the  immigrant,  as  if  his 
values  were  alone  determined  within  our  national  bounds.  By  a 
chance  meeting  in  the  streets  of  Naples,  I  was  led  to  see  the 
human  or  world-side  of  this  influence. 

A  friend  who  has  journeyed  much  in  eastern  Europe,  from 
which  increasing  numbers  of  our  immigrants  have  come  during 
the  last  fifteen  years,  tells  me  that  no  single  influence  in  those 
countries  has  so  much  hope  in  it  as  the  "rebound  of  the  emi- 
grant," not  alone  the  cash  remittance,  but  the  steady  current 
of  cheering  messages  which  the  mail  also  brings.  Here,  too,  an 
increasing  number  return  to  stay;  and  Mr.  Watchorn,  traveling 
on  government  service  a  dozen  years  in  Europe  before  he  was 
given  charge  at  Ellis  Island,  tells  me  that  one  never  sees  what 
the  problem  means  for  humanity  until  he  looks  upon  the  com- 
munities that  are  helped  and  uplifted  on  the  other  side.  "It  is, 
if  taken  as  a  whole,"  he  says,  "the  greatest  influence  for  civili- 
zation among  men." 

A  fact  so  momentous  for  good  is  surely  not  to  be  omitted  in 
any  discussion  of  immigration.  An  ardent  student  of  this  subject 
to  whom  I  went  for  light  said  to  me :  "Of  course  that  larger 
side  is  important,  but  we  cannot  consider  it  practically,  because 
American  interests  alone  must  influence  us."  I  knew  this  answer 
would  come.  It  is  drearily  familiar,  and  it  is  also  embarrassing, 
because  there  is  so  much  truth  in  it.  But  are  we  never  to  out- 
grow it,  are  we  not  even  to  modify  it?  The  ethics  of  the  tribe 


ON  IMMIGRATION  157 

and  the  village  are  far  behind  us ;  even  the  ethics  of  the  state  no 
longer  satisfy  us.  Two  years  ago,  in  a  southern  city,  I  heard  a 
scholar  applauded  by  Virginians  for  saying,  "The  state-line  must 
no  longer  limit  our  sense  of  citizenship.  Greater  than  the  state 
is  the  nation.  We  shall  not  love  Virginia  less  for  loving  the 
nation  more."  A  gentleman  of  the  South,  sitting  behind  me, 
whispered:  "It  marks  a  great  change  to  hear  this  audience 
respond  to  a  speech  like  that." 

We  should  delight  in  the  direction  of  the  change,  but  the 
larger  national  boundaries  do  not  set  the  limit  of  sympathies. 
We  are  still  reveling  in  the  ethics  of  nationalism;  yet  that,  too, 
must  some  day  appear  as  narrowly  provincial  as  tribal  ethics  now 
seem.  That  immigration  is  slowly  preparing  us  for  that  larger 
citizenship  seems  to  me  assured.  By  sneer  contact  it  is  wearing 
away  the  very  superstitions  that  have  I  made  peoples  hate  and 
despise  one  another.  Maeterlinck  has /said  it  well,  "Hells  are 
made  out  of  our  human  misunderstandings."  I  am  far  from 
suggesting  that  we  have  outgrown  national  ethics,  much  less  that 
we  hasten  to  act  primarily  from  the  world  point  of  view.  The 
manageable  good  of  the  United  States  will  rightly  be  our  first 
and  chief  concern.  But  why  should  we  accept  this  flinty  assump- 
tion that  in  this  or  that  particular  our  national  well-being  so 
necessarily  conflicts  with  a  good  larger  than  our  own?  This 
assumption,  acted  upon,  has  been  the  main  check  in  the  world's 
civilizing. 

Nothing  is  easier  than  to  show  that  most  of  the  historic  fears 
of  immigration  into  this  country  have  been  mistaken.  It  was 
assumed  as  early  and  by  as  enlightened  a  man  as  Governor  Win- 
throp  that  our  own  development  would  be  endangered  by  the 
coming  of  "strangers."  More  definitely  still,  since  1787,  we  have 
had  one  varying  succession  of  forebodings  as  to  the  coming 
evils  of  immigration.  They  never  really  arrive,  but  they  are 
always  lurking  there  in  the  future.  I  asked  several  genuine 
restrictionists  among  the  delegates  at  the  recent  Immigration 
Conference  in  this  city  why  they  feared  immigration.  They 
agreed  that  they  could  point  to  no  observable  evil  thus  far,  but 
it  certainly  would  arrive,  if  we  did  not  put  up  the  bars.  It  was 
admitted  that  enormous  undertakings  were  everywhere  waiting 
for  more  labor,  and  were  quite  dependent  upon  it.  "But  think 
of  a  million  coming  in  a  single  year!"  Here  is  the  ghost  that  for 
a  century  and  a  half  has  worked  on  our  imagination. 

When  20,000  came  in  a  single  year,  many  wise  people  were 


158  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

alarmed,  and  for  precisely  the  same  reason  that  the  people  are 
now  alarmed.  "How  could  we  assimilate  such  masses?"  "How 
could  the  American  standard  be  maintained  in  the  face  of  these 
multitudes?"  "What  will  become  of  the  wages  of  the  laborer?" 
So  many  immigrants  came  without  their  wives,  they  would  send 
their  money  back  to  Europe."  "Bred  under  other  political  and 
religious  systems,  how  could  harmony  be  long  preserved?" 

Before  the  nineteenth  century  came  in,  Washington  and  the 
Federalists  generally  were  afraid  of  immigration.  In  1812,  at 
the  Hartford  Convention,  many  of  the  ablest  men  thought  we 
had  inhabitants  enough  of  our  own.  Even  Jefferson  was  pretty 
nearly  hysterical  in  his  fears  of  immigration. 

Coming  down  to  1826,  when  the  foreign  observers  I  have 
mentioned  begin  to  come,  there  is  a  successive  chronic  alarm 
reported  among  our  most  thoughtful  people  because  of  this 
swelling  tide  of  foreigners.  "What  can  we  do  with  55,ooo  people 
a  year?"  As  we  look  back  upon  the  tempest  of  savage  prejudice 
in  the  middle  of  the  century  against  the  Irish  and  the  Catholics, 
• — riots,  a  convent  and  two  churches  burned  to  the  ground, — we 
feel  that  the  "Know-Nothing"  fury  was  appropriately  named. 
They  were  as  bat-blind  to  their  own  interests  as  to  the  interests 
of  foreigners. 

What  prejudice,  too,  against  the  Germans  who  flocked  here 
after  the  revolution  of  '48!  Would  they  not  subvert  the  very 
principles  of  our  government?  What  a  light  is  thrown  on  these 
fears  when  we  look  today  at  the  German  city  of  Milwaukee  and 
the  American  city  of  Philadelphia,  not  forgetting  that  such 
political  shame  as  Milwaukee  has  had  was  under  an  American 
boss,  and  not  under  a  German. 

In  the  earlier  years,  moreover,  there  was  no  effective  attempt 
made  to  exclude  the  unfit  in  any  sense.  A  steady  stream  of 
criminals  and  physically  unfit  poured  into  the  country,  and  doubt- 
less brought  us  much  harm,  yet  the  absorbing  power  of  this 
country  has  been  beyond  the  wildest  calculation.  Our  immigra- 
tion, taken  as  a  whole,  has  been  rapidly  assimilated,  and  has 
probably  raised  the  standard  of  living  rather  than  lowered  it. 
If  the  exception  be  made  to  certain  choked  conditions  in  the 
larger  cities,  I  do  not  believe  that  we  assimilated  our  immigrants 
more  easily  in  those  earlier  days  than  we  are  now  doing,  for 
the  reason  that  the  number  and  variety  of  industries  has  so  enor- 
mously increased.  Think  of  the  assimilation  power  of  8,000 


ON  IMMIGRATION  159 

industries  at  present,  as  against  three  or  four  hundred  industries 
in  those  days!  Barring,  again,  exceptional  centers  into  which 
unskilled  labor  has  dropped,  our  standard  of  living — wages, 
hours,  and  conditions — has  been  improved  by  immigration  to  the 
present  moment ;  again,  for  the  plain  reason  that  these  new- 
comers have  added  so  much  to  that  general  wealth  from  which 
wages  are  paid. 

Indeed,  the  whole  study  of  race  migrations  has  gone  far 
enough  to  bring  out  the  dominant  fact  that  economic  causes  are 
at  the  heart  of  these  movements.  Adventure  has  played  its  part, 
and  war  (with  plunder  for  its  aim)  a  still  greater  part;  but 
plunder  was  the  economics  of  the  barbarian,  while  the  lode-star 
guiding1  the  world's  most  romantic  adventure  was  the  glitter  of 
precious  metals.  It  is  even  a  little  chilling  to  learn  that  the  most 
gallant  of  these  explorers,  from  Columbus  down,  did  not  for  a 
moment  forget  that  they  were  out  for  "the  dust  of  the  gods." 

If,  for  simplicity,  we  exclude  the  war  element  in  migrations, 
we  have  the  main  fact  that  some  millions  of  people  yearly 
change  their  habitations  on  the  planet  wholly  for  economic  rea- 
sons. They  believe  that  they  can  raise  the  standard  of  living 
through  migration,  and  so  far  as  our  own  immigration  problem 
is  concerned,  this  is  too  clear  to  require  proof.  If,  for  a  moment, 
we  look  at  the  results  of  this  migration  into  the  United  States — 
look  at  it  strictly  from  the  human  or  world  point  of  view,  who 
would  question  for  an  instant  that  it  stood  for  results  that 
enlarge  opportunity  and  progress?  The  world  has  been  the 
gainer.  Let  us  cling  to  this  big  and  cheering  fact.  We  will 
hold  to  it  until  our  fearsome  opponents  show  us  far  better 
evidence  than  they  have  yet  given  that  the  world's  good  is  our 
ill.  Let  them  convince  us  that  the  good  of  Sweden,  Italy,  Greece, 
and  Hungary,  in  respect  of  immigration,  is  set  over  against  our 
own  good.  We  see  the  incalculable  benefit  to  them.  Let  the 
alarmists  make  clear  to  us  the  consequent  injury  to  this  country. 
They  have  thus  far  done  two  things.  They  have  created  out  of 
the  imagination  a  thousand  evils  that  have  not  arrived ;  they  have, 
secondly,  fixed  attention  upon  various  accidental  ills  which  never 
fail  to  shadow  every  great  human  activity.  What  a  swarm  of 
mischiefs  beset  trade  and  democracy !  Yet  we  do  not  propose  to 
discontinue  trade  or  give  up  democracy.  The  moral  and  social 
problem  is  rather  the  oldest  one  of  the  world — that  of  separating 
abuses  from  uses.  The  opponents  point  to  city  congestion,  to 


160  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

heightened  insanity,  and  to  certain  forms  of  crime.  They  are 
all  present,  and  they  have  been  increased  by  immigration;  yet 
they  are  exceptional,  and  should  be  dealt  with  strictly  as  such, 
and  quite  apart  from  the  totality  of  the  movement. 

It  is  this  large  human  side  of  immigration,  through  which  we 
are  related  to  the  whole  realm  of  ideal  values  that  connect 
themselves  with  the  free  and  friendly  movement,  which  brings 
races  long  enough  into  contact  to  know  one  another  and  to 
tolerate  differences. 

The  supreme  world  question  is  that  of  races  learning  the 
highest  and  most  difficult  art  of  civilization;  that  of  living 
together  with  good  will  and  intelligence — living  together  so  that 
they  may  help  one  another  rather  than  exploit  or  despoil  one 
another.  The  United  States  is  helping  to  solve  that  problem 
in  the  only  conceivable  way ;  namely,  by  giving  the  races  a  chance 
to  live  together  long  enough  to  substitute  human  and  social 
habits  for  mere  clannish  and  tribal  habits. 

What  is  now  the  mother-mischief  in  our  race  relationships? 
Obviously  the  shadow  of  an  extremely  vulgar  ignorance  and 
prejudice,  one  race  against  another.  Think  of  two  nations  as 
advanced  as  England  and  France  living  century  after  century 
hard  by  each  other,  and,  until  the  most  recent  years,  having 
merely  contempt  for  each  other — the  average  Englishman  hon- 
estly thinking  that  a  Frenchman  was  a  kind  of  monkey  with 
clothes  on,  and  that  chiefly  because  he  had  a  different  manner 
and  speech  from  the  English ! 

By  what  plummet,  then,  are  we  likely  to  measure  the  depths 
of  ignorance  that  separate  the  white  from  the  yellow  races? 
Japan  has  already  done  something  to  show  us  the  density  of  our 
prejudice  about  a  portion  of  the  East.  China  has  doubtless 
quite  as  startling  surprises  for  us.  An  Australian  prime  minister, 
who  knows  the  Chinese,  opposed  their  admission — not  because 
they  were  a  low  race,  but  because  of  their  ability.  They  are  a 
"superior  set  of  people,"  he  said,  belonging  "to  an  old,  deep- 
rooted  civilization.  We  know  how  wonderful  are  their  powers 
of  imagination,  their  endurance,  and  their  patient  labor."  Where- 
ever  they  have  been  fairly  dealt  with  in  this  country,  their 
standards  of  living  very  rapidly  have  adjusted  themselves  to 
those  about  them. 

I  am  not  here  arguing  the  removal  of  all  barriers  to  their 


ON  IMMIGRATION  161 

incoming,  but  rather  for  the  overcoming  of  the  most  primary 
evil  of  our  own  ignorance — an  ignorance  that  is  probably  the 
main  obstacle  to  the  world's  civilizing. 

National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction. 
1912:239-49 

Is  Immigration  a  Menace?     C.   L.   Sttlzberger 

If  wild  assertion  were  argument  and  its  reiteration  proof,  the 
case  against  immigration  would  be  definitely  closed.  On  no 
subject  before  the  American  people,  has  there  been  more  loose 
talk  and  less  information,  more  general  statement  and  less 
specific  fact.  Until  quite  lately  we  had  to  deal  only  with  the 
generalizations  of  the  professional  restrictionists.  More  recently 
the  unwarranted  conclusions  of  the  Immigration  Commission 
have  also  been  brought  into  play.  These  conclusions  are  called 
unwarranted  because  they  utterly  fail  to  tally  with  the  evidence 
which  has  been  presented  in  the  forty  odd  volumes  published 
and  to  be  published,  as  the  result  of  the  commission's  investiga- 
tions. That  they  do  so  fail  is  shown  not  alone  in  the  summary 
of  the  volumes  which  has  been  published  by  the  commission  but 
in  the  book  that  has  been  issued  by  one  of  its  members,  Prof. 
Jeremiah  W.  Jenks,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  W.  Jett  Lauck, 
expert  in  charge  of  the  industrial  investigations  of  that  com- 
mission. The  only  accurate  generalization  made  by  the  restric-l 
tionists  on  the  subject  of  immigration  is  that  the  nationality  of! 
the  immigrants  has  changed ;  that  whereas  in  former  years  the* 
bulk  o'f  the  immigration  came  from  northern  and  western 
Europe,  it  has  latterly  been  coming  from  southern  and  eastern 
Europe.  This  is  obviously  true,  but  it  is  not  true  as  is  so  often 
asserted,  that  while  the  so-called  older  immigration  was  desirable 
the  newer  is  undesirable.  By  every  statistical  test  that  can  be 
applied,  the  statement  utterly  fails  of  corroboration ;  nor  should 
it  be  forgotten  that  at  the  time  that  the  older  immigration,  the 
so-called  desirable  people,  was  coming,  the  immigration  restric- 
tionists of  those  days  considered  them  as  undesirable  as  the 
new-comers  of  today  are  considered  by  the  same  class  of  critics. 
Nearly  a  century  ago  the  same  arguments  were  used  regarding 
the  bad  habits  of  the  immigrants,  their  tendency  to  congest  the 
cities,  to  reduce  wages  and  to  depreciate  the  American  standard 


162  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

of  living.    The  report  of  the  Industrial  Commission  quotes  from 
Nile's  Register  of  1817: 

The  immigrants  should  press  into  the  interior.  In  the  present  state 
of  the  time,  we  seem  too  thick  on  the  maritime  frontier  already. 

The  same  document  quotes  from  the  second  annual  report 
of  the  managers  of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Pauperism 
in  New  York  City,  1819: 

As  to  the  emigrants  from  foreign  countries,  the  managers  are  com- 
pelled to  speak  of  them  in  the  language  of  astonishment  and  apprehension. 
Through  this  inlet  pauperism  threatens  us  with  the  most  overwhelming 
consequences.  An  almost  innumerable  population  beyond  the  ocean  is  out 
of  employment  and  this  has  the  effect  of  increasing  the  usual  want  of 
employ.  This  country  is  the  resort  of  vast  numbers  of  those  needy  and 
wretched  beings.  Many  of  these  foreigners  have  found  employment;  some 
may  have  passed  into  the  interior;  but  thousands  will  remain  among  us. 
They  are  frequently  found  destitute  in  our  streets;  they  seek  employment 
at  our  doors;  they  are  found  in  our  almshouses  and  in  our  hospitals;  they 
are  found  at  the  bar  of  criminal  tribunals,  in  our  Bridewell,  our  peni- 
tentiary, and  our  state  prison,  and  we  lament  to  say  that  they  are  too  often 
led  by  want,  by  vice,  and  by  habit  to  form  a  phalanx  of  plunder  and 
depredations,  rendering  our  city  more  liable  to  increase  of  crime  and  our 
houses  of  correction  more  crowded  with  convicts  and  felons. 

The  same  report  urged  the  importance  of  transporting  the 
foreigner  into  the  interior  so  that  ''instead  of  bringing  up  his 
children  in  idleness,  temptation  and  crime,  he  would  see  them 
amalgamated  with  the  general  mass  of  our  population,  deriving 
benefits  from  our  school  systems,  our  moral  institutions,  and  our 
habits  of  industry."  In  1835  it  would  seem  that  the  doleful 
predictions  made  in  1819,  had  not  materialized,  and  the  restric- 
tionists  then  regarded  the  earlier  immigrants  as  desirable  but 
the  then-incoming  foreigners  as  a  menace.  In  a  paper  entitled 
"Imminent  Dangers  to  the  Institutions  of  the  United  States  of 
America  through  Foreign  Immigration,"  etc.,  published  in  1835, 
the  author  speaks  of  the  immigration  of  previous  years  as  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  day,  and  says: 

Then  we  were  few,  feeble  and  scattered.  Now,  we  are  numerous, 
strong  and  concentrated.  Then  our  accessions  of  immigration  were  real 
accessions  of  strength  from  the  ranks  of  the  learned  and  the  good,  from 
enlightened  mechanic  and  artisan  and  intelligent  husbandman.  Now,  immi- 
gration is  the  accession  of  weakness,  from  the  ignorant  and  vicious,  or  the 
priest-ridden  slaves  of  Ireland  and  Germany,  or  the.  outcast  tenants  of  the 
poorhouses  and  prisons  of  Europe. 

In  1845  the  delegates  of  the  Native  American  National  Con- 


ON  IMMIGRATION  163 

vention,  meeting  at  Philadelphia  on  July  4  of  that  year,  published 
an  address  in  which  occurs  the  following : 

It  is  an  incontrovertible  truth  that  the  civil  institutions  of  the  United 
States  of  America  have  been  seriously  affected  and  that  they  now  stand  in 
imminent  peril  from  the  rapid  and  enormous  increase  in  the  body  of  resi- 
dents of  foreign  birth,  imbued  with  foreign  feelings  and  of  an  ignorant  and 
immoral  character. 

The  almshouses  of  Europe  are  emptied  upon  our  coast,  and  this  by 
our  own  invitation — not  casually,  or  to  a  trivial  extent — but  systematically 
and  upon  a  constantly  increasing  scale. 

All  this  is  about  that  class  of  immigrants  which  we  now  call 
desirable,  the  fact  being  that,  as  at  one  time  in  our  history,  only 
the  dead  Indian  was  regarded  as  a  good  Indian,  so  at  all  times, 
to  the  restrictionists,  only  the  immigrant  who  did  not  come  was 
regarded  as  a  good  immigrant. 


Century.    74:474-80.    July,  1907 
American  of  the  Future.     Brander  Matthews 

It  is  the  testimony  of  most  of  the  intelligent  Europeans  who 
have  come  here  to  study  us  in  recent  years,  that  we  Americans 
are  less  insular  than  our  kin  across  the  sea,  less  set  in  our  ways, 
more  open-minded.  Sefior  Juan  Valera,  sometime  Spanish 
Minister  in  Washington,  in  the  preface  to  his  delightful  tale  of 
"Pepita  Ximenes,"  declared  that  the  American  public  reads  a 
great  deal,  is  indulgent,  and  "differs  from  the  British  public — 
which  is  eminently  exclusive  in  its  tastes — by  its  cosmopolitan 
spirit."  It  may  be  said  that  this  is  one  of  the  variances  between 
the  Americans  and  the  British  due  to  the  influence  exerted  by 
those  elements  in  our  population  which  are  not  Anglo-Saxon 
and  not  even  Teutonic.  Cecil  Rhodes  once  scornfully  commented 
on  the  "unctuous  rectitude"  of  the  British,  and  Lowell  once 
declared  that  "England  seems  to  be  the  incarnation  of  the 
'Kingdom  of  this  world.'  "  Neither  of  these  accusations  will  lie 
against  us  Americans,  open  as  we  may  be  in  other  respects  to 
the  conviction  of  sin.  Perhaps  the  reason  is  to  be  found  in  the 
influence  of  the  Celt — of  the  Huguenot  and  of  the  Irish.  To  this 
same  Celtic  softening  of  Teutonic  harshness  we  may  ascribe 
also  the  broader  development  here  of  that  social  instinct  which 
is  deficient  in  Great  Britain  and  dominant  in  France.  This  social 


II 


164  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

instinct  manifests  itself  in  manifold  forms — in  a  wider  sympathy, 
in  a  friendlier  good  nature,  in  a  more  thorough  toleration,  both 
religious  and  political.  It  has  contributed  its  share  to  the  core 
of  idealism  which  sustains  the  American  character,  but  which  is 
often  veiled  from  view  by  sordid  externals.  It  finds  fit  expres- 
sion in  lavish  giving  to  public  service,  and  it  leads  also  to  the 
preservation  of  natural  beauty  and  of  the  sacred  places  of  our 
brief  history. 

When  we  consider  all  these  things  carefully,  we  cannot  help 
wondering  whether  we  have  not  been  guilty  of  flagrant  conceit 
in  our  assumption  that  we  could  not  possibly  profit  by  any 
infusion  of  other  bloods  than  the  Teutonic.  We  find  ourselves 
face  to  face  with  the  question  whether  the  so-called  Anglo-Saxon 
stock  is  of  a  truth  so  near  to  perfection  that  any  admixture  is 
certain  to  be  harmful. 

All  that  the  New  Englanders  could  bring  over  from  Great 
Britain  was  a  British  standard;  and  if  the  American  standard 
now  differs  from  the  British  standard,  this  must  be  due,  more  or 
less,  to  the  pressure  exerted  in  America  by  a  contribution  other 
than  English.  If  we  today  prefer,  as  we  do  undoubtedly,  the 
existing  American  standards  and  ideals  and  tendencies,  we  must 
recognize  the  various  foreign  elements  in  the  United  States  as 
having  exerted  an  influence  satisfactory  to  us  now,  however  much 
our  forefathers  may  once  have  dreaded  it.  We  must  recognize 
that  the  commingling  of  stocks  which  has  been  going  on  here  in 
die  past  has  been  beneficial — or  at  least  that  its  results  are  accept- 
able to  us  at  present.  And  in  all  probability  our  children  will 
admit  also  that  the  commingling  that  is  going  on  in  the  present, 
and  which  will  go  on  in  the  future,  is  likely  also  to  be  beneficial 
or  at  least  acceptable. 

The  strength  of  the  founders  of  the  American  republic  lay 
chiefly  in  character.  It  is  not  by  brilliancy,  by  intellect,  or  even 
by  genius  that  Washington  and  Jay  and  John  Adams  impressed 
themselves  on  their  fellow-citizens  in  Virginia,  in  New  York, 
and  in  Massachusetts.  Ability  they  had  in  abundance,  no  doubt; 
but  it  was  by  character  that  they  conquered,  by  their  moral 
individuality.  And  it  is  the  grossest  conceit  for  us  to  assume 
that  character  is  the  privilege  or  the  prerogative  of  any  single 
stock.  We  have  a  right  to  hope  and  even  to  believe  that  what- 
ever we  may  lose  by  the  commingling  of  the  future,  by  the  admix- 
ture of  other  racial  types  than  the  Teutonic  and  the  Celtic,  will 


ON   IMMIGRATION  165 

be  made  up  to  us  by  what  we  shall  thereby  gain.  Our  type  may 
be  a  little  transformed,-  but  it  is  not  at  all  likely  to  be  deteri- 
orated. There  is  really  very  little  danger  indeed  that  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Puritans  will  ever  be  superseded  here  by  the  practices 
of  the  Impuritans. 

It  is  true  that  the  later  new-comers  are  not  altogether  Teu- 
tonic or  even  Celtic;  they  are  Latin  and  Slav  and  Semitic.  But 
it  is  only  a  stubborn  pride,  singularly  out  of  place  in  an  American 
of  the  twentieth  century,  which  makes  us  dread  evil  consequences 
from  this  admixture.  The  Teuton  here  has  been  suppled  by  the 
Celt;  but  the  resulting  race  may  profit  still  by  attributes  of  the 
Latin  and  of  the  Slav.  The  suave  manner  of  the  Italian  may 
modify  in  time  the  careless  discourtesy  which  discredits  us  now 
in  the  eyes  of  foreign  visitors.  The  ardor  of  the  Slav  may 
quicken  our  appreciation  of  music  and  of  the  fine  arts.  Possibly 
these  gains  may  have  to  be  paid  for  by  a  little  relaxing  of  the 
unresting  energy  which  is  our  marked  characteristic  today.  It 
'may  be  that  when  milder  strains  are  commingled  with  the 
harsher  Teutonic  stock,  there  will  be  other  modifications,  some 
of  them  seemingly  less  satisfactory.  But  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  in  the  future  we  shall  not  make  our  profit  out  of 
the  best  that  every  contributing  blood  can  bring  to  us,  since 
this  is  exactly  what  we  have  been  doing  in  the  past. 

We  need  not  fear  any  weakening  of  the  Teutonic  framework 
of  our  social  order.  Beyond  all  question,  we  shall  preserve  the 
common  law  of  England  and  the  English  language;  for  these 
are  priceless  possessions  in  which  the  welcome  invaders  are 
glad  to  be  allowed  to  share.  The  good  old  timbers  of  the  ship 
of  state  are  still  solid,  and  the  sturdy  vessel  is  steered  by  the 
same  compass. 

One  of  the  best  equipped  observers  of  American  life,  and 
one  of  the  shrewdest,  also, — Professor  Giddings, — faces  the  future 
fearlessly.  He  holds  that  in  the  coming  years  a  mixture  of 
elements  not  Anglo-Teuton  "will  soften  the  emotional  nature" 
and  "quicken  the  poetic  and  artistic  nature"  of  the  American 
people;  it  will  make  us  "gentler  in  our  thoughts  and  feelings 
because  of  the  Alpine  strain"  (and  this  includes  the  Slav).  We 
shall  find  ourselves  "with  a  higher  power  to  enjoy  the  beautiful 
things  of  life  because  of  the  Celtic  and  the  Latin  blood."  And 
as  if  this  prophecy  of  emotional  benefit  was  not  heartening 
enough,  Professor  Giddings  holds  up  to  us  the  high  hope  of  an 


166  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

intellectual  benefit,  probably  through  the  commingling  of  bloods. 
"We  shall  become  more  clearly  and  more  fearlessly  rational,-- 
in  a  word  more  scientific." 


Arena.   32:596-602.    December,  1904 

Immigration   Bugbear.     Ernest   Crosby 

Let  us  think  less  of  the  evil  which  the  immigrant  may  do  to 
us  and  more  of  the  good  which  we  might  get  from  him  and  yet 
fail  to  get.  We  are  still  a  people  in  the  making.  It  is  the  all- 
sufficient  excuse  for  our  defects  that  we  are  not  yet  the  finished 
product,  and  that  we  do  not  yet  know  what  we  shall  be.  America 
is  a  great  caldron  into  which  the  raw  material  from  Europe  is 
poured,  and  the  ultimate  outcome  depends  as  legitimately  upon 
the  Italian  and  Roumanian  immigration  of  today  as  upon  that 
of  the  early  Puritan  and  Quaker.  But  for  some  reason  or  other 
.we  look  upon  the  pilgrims  of  the  twentieth  century  m  a  very 
different  light  from  those  of  the  seventeenth.  We  boast  of  the 
good  we  have  derived  from  the  first  settlers,  English  and  Dutch. 
Is  there  nothing  to  be  obtained  in  like  manner  from  those  who 
cross  the  water  now  ?  Do  the  thousands  who  come  yearly  from 
Germany  and  Italy  bring  no  valuable  contribution  with  them  to 
our  national  character,  that  we  should  be  in  such  haste  to  turn 
them  all  into  indistinguishable  Yankees?  It  is  a  fine  thing  to 
assimilate  our  new  citizens  rapidly ;  but  there  are  two  sides  tc 
assimilation, — the  disappearance  of  the  thing  assimilated  in  its 
original  form  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  appropriation  of  all  that 
is  good  in  it  by  the  assimilator  on  the  other.  Are  we  not  too 
prone  to  forget  the  latter  half?  I  hold  it  against  our  German 
fellow-citizens  that  after  over  half  a  century  of  influence  they 
have  failed  to  turn  us  into  a  musical  nation.  Is  there  any  reason 
why  the  children  of  parents  who  were  brought  up  on  the  Wacht 
am  Rhein  and  Luther's  Hymn  and  who  naturally  sing  chorals 
with  their  friends  for  amusement  when  they  meet,  should  talk 
through  their  noses,  have  no  ear  for  music,  and  cherish  no 
musical  ideals  beyond  the  "coon-song"?  And  the  Italians  who 
are  now  coming  with  their  inherited  eye  for  beauty, — does  it 
never  enter  into  their  heads  or  ours  that  they  might  in  time 
transform  our  national  taste  and  create  a  genuine  American  art 
and  architecture?  NO,  the  one  engrossing  effort  on  both  sides  is. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  167 

to  Yankify  the  "dago"  as  speedily  as  possible  and  to  make  him 
two-fold  more  a  child  of  Uncle  San  than  ourselves.  But  these 
wanderers  are  the  spice  for  our  pudding.  Let  us  be  careful 
how  we  waste  the  seasoning  which  we  may  never  be  able  to 
produce  for  ourselves. 

And  why  this  craze  to  make  all  men  and  all  things  alike? 
It  is  doing  its  sad  work  all  over  the  world,  making  another 
Liverpool  of  Calcutta  and  packing  the  flowing  skirts  of  the 
picturesque  Orientals  into  awkward  trousers.  But  in  America  it 
does  its  worst.  A  dozen  years  and  more  ago  a  friend  of  mine 
visited  Havana, — long  before  we  had  begun  to  Americanize  the 
town — and  he  was  delighted  with  its  quaint  and  romantic  beauty. 
Returning  he  landed  in  some  part  of  Florida,  territory  reclaimed 
not  so  long  ago  from  the  same  Spaniard,  and  he  assured  me  with 
tears  in  his  voice  that  the  first  town  that  he  saw  in  the  home 
country  looked  exactly  like  Hoboken.  And  so  do  they  all. 
From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  great  lakes  to  the 
gulf,  we  have  nothing  but  countless  Hobokens,  and  we  are 
rejoicing  in  the  prospecfol  recasting  in  the  same  mould  the 
tropical  cities  pf  Panama,  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines.  For 
my  part  I  'cannot  understand  this  enthusiasm,  for  I  would  travel 
many  a  long  mile  to  see  an  American  city  which  should  not  look 
exactly  like  Hoboken,  and  to  discover  an  American  citizen  not 
altogether  like  myself. 

The  whole  trouble  lies  in  the  too  great  emphasis  which  we 
lay  upon  the  comparative  value  of  our  own  virtues,  to  which, 
with  a  good  deal  of  freedom  of  language,  we  have  affixed  the 
term  "Anglo-Saxon."  I  am  in  some  respects  an  Anglo-maniac, 
and  I  am  proud  of  my  English  blood  and  speech.  I  like  the 
energy  and  all-sufficiency  of  the  stock,  and  I  would  not  exchange 
my  forebears  for  a  good  deal.  Still  I  cannot  in  justice  overlook 
our  faults  nor  be  blind  to  the  fact  that  the  good  points  of  other 
races  supply  our  deficiencies,  and  I  have  already  hinted  at  some 
of  them.  In  the  great  century  of  music,  none  of  our  blood  pro- 
duced a  work  of  even  the  third  class.  We  have  never  had  a 
painter  who  could  rank  among  the  first  score  or  two  of  great 
artists.  We  must  go  to  Germany  for  our  highest  philosophy  and 
to  France  for  the  most  finished  elegance  of  thought  and  man- 
ners. We  know  little  of  the  joy  of  living.  We  take  our  holidays 
sadly,  and  laugh  with  mental  reservations.  The  European  comes 
to  us  with  a  new  capacity  for  mirth,  a  genius  for  joviality  and 


16S  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

sociability.  Are  these  ingredients  to  be  despised?  For  a  few 
years  he  may  navigate  our  streets  with  his  hand-organ  or  his 
plaster-casts  and  frequent  his  genial  cafe,  but  before  long  he 
must  fit  himself  to  our  procrustean  bed,  and  at  last  we  find  him 
at  work  in  the  regulation  store  or  at  rest  before  the  rigid  bar  or 
at  the  taciturn  dairy-lunch  counter.  Is  it  desirable  that  we  should 
compass  sea  and  land  in  this  way  to  make  a  proselyte  ?  Should 
we  reduce  the  whole  world  to  one  dead  level?  And  not  content 
with  stifling  the  originality  of  the  immigrant,  we  must  needs 
carry  our  missionary  zeal  for  uniformity  to  foreign  lands  in  the 
hope  of  destroying  all  individuality.  In  Anglo-Saxonizing  India 
and  Japan  we  are  crushing  out  the  most  wonderful  of  arts 
beyond  a  possibility  of  resurrection.  We  are  the  Goths  and 
Vandals  of  the  day.  We  are  the  Tartars  and  the  Turks.  And 
the  countries  which  we  overrun  have  each  its  own  priceless 
heritage  of  art  and  legend  which  we  ruthlessly  stamp  under 
foot. 

I  admire  the  Anglo-Saxon,  just  as  I  admire  his  feathered 
prototype,  the  English  house-sparrow.  He  is  a  fine,  sturdy,  plain, 
self-satisfied  bird,  a  good  fighter,  an  admirable  colonist,  fit  for 
all  climates,  with  no  sense  of  art  or  music,  and  a  little  too  fond 
of  rehearsing  his  many  virtues  in  a  hoarse  chorus.  But  so  long 
as  he  minds  his  own  business  I  like  him,  and  I  do  not  care  to 
quarrel  with  him,  even  when  he  considers  himself  a  better  bird 
than  the  blue-bird  or  the  oriole.  He  has  a  right  to  his  own 
opinions.  But  when  he  begins  to  try  to  make  the  bobolink 
adopt  his  song,  and  to  drive  the  wrens  and  buntings  out  of  their 
haunts,  and  to  break  their  eggs  and  tear  their  nests  to  pieces, 
why,  then  I  must  cry  out  against  his  arrogance  We  do  not 
want  a  bird  world  composed  of  nothing  but  sparrows.  We  will 
not  have  it,  and  if  the  sparrows  themselves  had  any  sense  they 
would  protest  against  it ;  for  do  not  the  thrushes  sing  for  them 
too,  and  may  they  not  enjoy  the  plumage  of  the  scarlet-tanager, 
if  they  will?  Let  us  hope  that  the  sparrow  may  learn  some 
day  to  appreciate  the  good  points  of  other  fowl,  even  to  the 
point  of  cherishing  them  and  learning  from  them.  What  wasted 
opportunities  of  improvement  for  ourselves  Ellis  Island  affords ! 
We  are  careful  to  assure  ourselves  that  each  immigrant  has  in 
his  pocket  so  much  money  which  will  find  its  way  into  the 
general  circulation,  but  he  bears  a  greater  wealth  in  his  heart, 
and  this  we  disregard.  If  the  energy  which  we  expend  upon 


ON  IMMIGRATION  169 

keeping  him  out  were  devoted  to  the  task  of  investing  this 
spiritual  wealth  of  his  to  the  greatest  advantage  for  all,  the 
problem  of  immigration  would  cease  to  vex  us,  for  we  would  all 
soon  learn  to  hail  his  advent  with  gratitude. 

North  American  Review.    195:513-25.    April,  1912 

American  Ideals  and  Race  Mixture.     Percy  Stickney  Grant 

The  rapidity  with  which  the  democratic  ideas  are  taken  on 
by  immigrants  under  the  influence  of  our  institutions  is  remark- 
able. I  have  personally  had  experiences  with  French-Canadians, 
Portuguese,  Hebrews,  and  Italians.  These  races  have  certainly 
taken  advantage  of  their  opportunities  among  us  in  a  fashion  to 
promise  well  for  their  final  effect  upon  this  country.  The 
French-Canadian  has  become  a  sufficiently  good  American  to 
have  given  up  his  earlier  programme  of  turning  New  England 
into  a  new  France — that  is,  into  a  Catholic  province  or  of  return- 
ing to  the  Province  of  Quebec.  He  is  seeing  something  better 
than  a  racial  or  religious  ideal  in  the  freedom  of  American 
citizenship;  and  on  one  or  two  occasions,  when  he  had  political 
power  in  two  municipalities,  he  refrained  from  exercising  it  to 
the  detriment  of  the  pubic-school  system.  He  has  added  a 
gracious  manner  and  a  new  feeling  for  beauty  to  New  England 
traits. 

The  Portuguese  have  taken  up  neglected  or  abandoned  New 
England  agricultural  land  and  have  turned  it  to  productive  and 
valuable  use.  Both  the  French-Canadian  and  the  Portuguese 
have  come  to  us  by  way  of  the  New  England  textile  mills. 

The  actual  physical  machinery  of  civilization — cotton-mills, 
woolen-mills,  iron-mills,  etc. — lock  up  a  great  deal  of  human 
energy  physical  and  mental,  just  as  one  hundred  years  ago  the 
farms  did,  from  which  later  sprang  most  of  the  members  of  our 
dominant  industrial  class.  A  better  organization  of  society,  by 
which  machinery  would  do  still  more  and  afford  a  freer  play  for 
mental  and  physical  energy  and  organization,  would  find  a 
response  from  classes  that  are  now  looked  upon  as  not 
contributing  to  our  American  culture ;  would  unlock  the 
high  potentialities  in  the  laboring  classes,  now  unguessed  and 
unexpended. 

The  intellectual  problems  and  the  advanced  thinking  of  the 


i;o  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

Hebrew,  his  fondness  for  study,  and  his  freedom  on  the  whole 
from  wasteful  forms  of  dissipation,  sport,  and  mental  stagnation, 
constitute  him  a  more  fortunate  acquisition  for  this  country  than 
are  thousands  of  the  descendants  of  colonial  settlers.  In  short, 
we  must  reconstruct  our  idea  of  democracy — of  American  democ- 
racy. This  done,  we  must  construct  a  new  picture  of  citizenship. 
If  we  do  these  things  we  shall  welcome  the  rugged  strength  of 
the  peasant  or  the  subtle  thought  of  the  man  of  the  Ghetto  in 
our  reconsidered  American  ideals.  After  all,  what  are  these 
American  ideals  we  boast  so  much  about?  Shall  we  say  public 
schools,  the  ballot,  freedom?  The  American  stock  use  private 
schools  when  they  can  afford  them;  they  too  often  leave  town 
on  election  day ;  as  for  freedom,  competent  observers  believe  it 
is  disappearing.  The  conservators  and  believers  in  American 
ideals  seem  to  be  our  immigrants.  To  the  Russian  Jew,  Abraham 
Lincoln  is  a  god.  If  American  ideals  are  such  as  pay  honor  to 
the  intellectual  and  to  the  spiritual  or  foster  human  brotherhood 
or  love  culture  and  promote  liberty,  then  they  are  safe  with  our 
new  citizens  who  are  eager  for  these  things. 

Not  only  do  these  races  bring  with  them  most  desirable 
qualities,  but  they  themselves  are  subjected  to  new  enviroment 
and  strongly  influential  conditions.  Just  here  arise  duties  for  the 
present  masters  of  America.  Ought  they  not  to  create  an  indus- 
trial, social,  and  educational  environment  of  the  most  uplifting 
sort  for  our  foreign-born  citizens? 

If  working-people  are  obliged  to  live  in  unhealthful  tenements 
situated  in  slums  or  marsh  land,  if  the  saloon  is  allowed  to  be 
their  only  social  center,  if  they  are  fought  by  the  rich  in  every 
effort  to  improve  their  condition,  we  may  expect  any  misfortune 
to  happen  to  them  and  also  any  fate  to  befall  the  state. 

What  improved  milieu  can  do  to  improve  the  physique  is 
easily  seen  on  all  sides.  The  increase  in  the  height  and  weight 
of  Americans  in  the  last  few  decades  is  conspicuous.  Even  the 
size  of  American  girls  and  boys  has  increased,  and  this 
increase  in  size  is  commonly  attributed  to  the  more  comfort- 
able conditions  of  life,  to  better  food,  and  especially  to  the 
popularity  of  all  forms  of  athletics,  and  the  extension,  as  in  the 
last  twenty-five  or  thirty  years,  of  the  out-of-door  and  country 
life.  If  these  factors  have  made  so  marked  and  visible  a  change 
in  the  physique  of  the  children  of  native-born  Americans,  why 
may  not  the  same  conditions  also  contribute  an  improvement  to 
the  more  recent  immigrant  stock? 


ON  IMMIGRATION  171 

Our  question,  then,  as  to  the  effect  of  race  mixture  is  not 
the  rather  supercilious  one :  What  are  we  admitting  into  America 
that  may  possibly  injure  American  ideals?  but,  What  are  the 
old  American  races  doing  to  perpetuate  these  ideals?  And  is 
not  our  future  as  a  race,  largely  by  our  own  fault,  in  the  hands 
of  the  peasant  races  of  Europe? 

Indifference,  prejudice,  illiteracy,  segregation  of  recent  immi- 
grants by  parochial  schools,  by  a  native  colonial  press,  bad 
physical  and  social  environment,  and  the  low  American  ideals  of 
citizenship  held  by  those  the  immigrant  sees  or  hears  most  about, 
obstruct  race  assimilation;  but  all  these  can  be  changed.  Yes,  it 
is  the  keeping  up  of  difference  and  class  isolation  that  destroys 
and  deteriorates.  Fusion  is  a  law  of  progress. 

Every  act  of  religious  or  civil  tyranny,  every  economic  wrong 
done  to  races  in  all  the  world,  becomes  the  burden  of  the  nation 
to  which  the  oppressed  flee  for  relief  and  opportunity.  And  the 
beauty  of  democracy  is  that  it  is  a  method  by  which  these  needs 
may  freely  express  themselves  and  bring  about  what  the  op- 
pressed have  prayed  for  and  have  been  denied.  Let  us  be  careful 
not  to  put  America  into  the  class  of  the  oppressors.  Let  us  rise 
to  an  eminence  higher  than  that  occupied  by  Washington  or 
Lincoln,  to  a  new  Americanism  which  is  not  afraid  of  the  blend- 
ing in  the  western  world  of  races  seeking  freedom.  Our  present 
problem  is  the  greatest  in  our  history.  Not  colonial  independence, 
not  federal  unity,  but  racial  amalgamation  is  the  heroic  problem 
of  the  present,  with  all  it  implies  in  purification  and  revision  of 
old  social,  religious,  and  political  ideals,  with  all  it  demands  in 
new  sympathy  outside  of  blood  and  race,  and  in  a  willingness  to 
forego  old-time  privileges. 

Atlantic  Monthly.    86:535-48.    October,  1900 

Our  Immigrants  and  Ourselves.     Kate  Halladay  Claghorn 

As  a  type  of  the  southern  Europeans  that  are  coming  among 
us  the  Italians  may  be  taken,  though  of  course,  strictly  speaking, 
no  one  race  can  represent  another  in  all  details.  Those  who 
'know  them  familiarly  as  they  are  found  in  large  cities — workers 
for  the  charities,  the  missions,  and  the  settlements — say  that  they 
are  a  much  misunderstood  people.  As  a  class,  and  when  Tn 
normal  family  relations,  they  are  gentle,  industrious,  frugal,  and 
temperate ;  but  they  are  looked  upon  by  the  public  generally  as  a 


172  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

lot  of  idle,  dissipated  cutthroats.  On  our  records  of  crime  they 
do  not,  it  is  true,  make  a  good  showing,  but  there  is  a  special 
reason  for  that,  as  will  be  indicated  presently,  which  removes  a 
great  part  of  the  blame  from  them  as  a  race.  There  is  little 
pauperism  among  the  Italians.  It  is  a  matter  of  every-day  obser- 
vation among  charity  agents  that  in  the  so-called  "Italian  quar- 
ters" in  great  cities  most  of  the  applicants  for  relief  are  Irish. 
The  poorest  Italian  family  manages  in  some  way  to  make  pro- 
vision for  a  rainy  day,  and  it  is  seldom  indeed  that  it  is  found  a 
habitual  dependent  on  charity.  The  Italians,  like  the  Jews,  are 
eager  for  improvement,  although  not,  perhaps,  in  so  striking 
a  degree.  They  have  been  reproached  with  denying  advantages  to 
their  children  for  the  sake  of  the  money  to  be  got  by  the  chil- 
dren's labor,  but  a  special  investigation  made  some  years  ago  by 
a  committee  of  sociological  specialists  shows  that  this  charge, 
when  made  a  general  one,  is  without  foundation.  The  commit- 
tee testified  in  the  plainest  terms  to  the  fact  that  the  Italian 
family,  even  in  circumstances  of  the  greatest  destitution,  showed 
a  least  the  normal  amount  of  interest  in  the  education  of  their 
children,  and  in  many  cases  made  .especial  sacrifices  to  secure  it. 

So  far  as  individual  race  traits  are  concerned,  it  would  seem 
that  there  is  no  especial  trouble  to  be  apprehended  from  the  mass 
of  our  newest  immigrants.  But  beyond  race  traits  we  must  look 
at  certain  general  processes  at  work,  as  they  are  to  be  seen  in  the 
history  of  immigration  as  a  whole,  to  understand  the  question 
more  fully,  and  to  judge  more  fairly  as  to  the  good  or  evil  of 
immigration. 

These  processes  may  be  depicted  something  in  this  fashion: 
We  must  regard  our  country  as  a  land  traversed  by  successive 
waves  of  population  passing  from  east  to  west,  each  marking  in 
its  progress  an  ever  advancing  coast  line,  which,  in  the  case  of 
the  first  great  wave,  we  have  known  as  the  frontier.  The  crest 
of  such  a  wave  is  made  up  of  the  most  mobile  elements  in  a 
population,  drawing  after  them,  in  due  proportion  of  time  and 
distance,  the  less  and  less  mobile  elements.  First  to  get  in 
motion  in  any  normally  developing  community  are  the  men,  in 
an  age  period  roughly  to  be  defined  as  between  early  youth  on 
the  one  hand  and  later  middle  life  on  the  other,  who  proceed  on 
their  way  unencumbered  by  wives  and  children,  either  having 
itbne,  or  leaving  them  behind.  So  there  is  to  be  found,  or  until 


ON  IMMIGRATION  173 

recently  was  to  be  found,  on  our  frontier,  as  the  crest  of  the  first 
great  wave  of  immigration, — the  movement  of  the  American 
branch  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  to  the  Pacific, — a  predominantly 
male  population,  young,  active,  unfettered  by  family  ties,  fired 
with  energy,  driven  to  the  necessity  of  self-help,  cast  loose  from 
all  the  bonds  of  society,  from  all  law,  religion,  and  morality  as  a 
long-established  social  body  understands  these  things;  on  the 
eastern  edge  of  the  wave  a  population  containing  more  women 
than  men,  a  settled  family  life,  quiet,  order,  and  the  sway  of 
public  opinion.  On  the  western  edge  are  poverty  for  the  day- 
enriched  by  unlimited  hopes  of  wealth  on  the  morrow,  a  freedom 
that  has  not  as  yet  developed  into  inequality,  and  a  general 
simplicity  of  life ;  on  the  eastern  edge,  more  wealth  but  less 
hope,  more  training  but  less  versatility,  greater  inequality  but 
greater  possibilities  through  cooperation  and  control, — in  short, 
the  complexities  of  civilization  instead  of  the  simplicities  of  a 
primitive  life. 

The  immigration  of  the  fifties  may  be  regarded  as  a  second 
great  wave,  repeating  the  processes  of  the  first,  modified  by  the 
fact  that  it  did  not  pour  in  on  dry  ground,  like  the  first,  but  upon 
the  heels  of  another.  It,  as  well  as  the  other,  pushed  before  it  a 
"frontier." 

It  may  seem  a  little  strange  to  call  our  great  cities,  with  their 
crowds  of  people,  their  masses  of  buildings,  their  various  para- 
phernalia of  a  modern  civilization,  in  any  sense  a  frontier.  But 
such  they  are  in  certain  vital  respects  for  the  immigrant,  when 
he  arrives  on  these  shores.  The  movement  across  the  sea  to  us 
is  headed  by  the  same  class  that  led  our  own  march  across  the 
plains,  and,  like  the  early  frontiersman,  the  later  immigrant, 
on  arriving  at  the  end  of  his  journey,  finds  himself  freed  from 
the  restraint  of  a  public  opinion  that  he  has  felt  in  the  com- 
munity where  he  was  known.  This  may  be  as  strictly  the  case 
in  the  crowded  city  as  on  the  wide  plains.  Nowhere  can  one  be 
more  really  alone  than  among  strangers.  The  sudden  relaxation 
of  effort  to  keep  up  to  a  standard,  moral  or  otherwise,  when 
social  boundaries  are  changed,  is  a  familiar  sensation  to  every 
one.  And  this  is  especially  true  when  no  great  effort  is  made 
by  the  environing  strangers  to  impress  themselves  and  their  opin- 
ions on  the  newcomers.  To  the  immigrant,  then,  our  people, 
with  their  thoughts  and  ideas,  their  social  and  governmental 


J74  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

schemes,  are,  at  first,  of  as Vittle  pertinence  as  the  thoughts  and 
institutions  of  the  Indian  or  the  buffalo  are  to  the  cowboy.  So 
it  is  not  surprising  to  see  in  him  some  of  the  characteristics  of 
the  cowboy, — the  brawling,  swearing,  and  drunkenness,  the 
violence  and  profligacy  that  Inaturally  arise  when  a  male  popula- 
tion is  herded  together,  an<!r  all  of  those  outbursts  that  keep 
police  magistrates  busy  and  swell  the  records  of  crime.  These 
records,  indeed,  presenting  on  their  face,  as  they  do,  a  bad 
showing  against  the  foreign  born,  and  especially  against  certain 
race  groups  among  them,  must  be  corrected  with  regard  to  the 
circumstances  just  indicated.  In  any  population,  whether  under 
conditions  of  normal  social  restraint  or  not,  the  bulk  of  the 
crimes  recorded  are  committed  by  one  sex  and  age  class, — that 
of  the  adult  males.  It  would  be  expected,  then,  that  the  native 
born — a  group  containing  a  larger  proportion  of  women  and 
children — would  show  a  lower  proportion  of  criminals  than  the 
foreign  born,  with  a  larger  proportion  of  adult  men;  and  that 
the  newer  immigrants,  like  the  Italians,  for  instance,  would  show 
a  higher  crime  rate  than  older  comers,  who  have  had  time  to 
gather  families  about  them.  And  this  would  be  quite  apart  from 
any  question  of  innate  race  tendency  to  crime. 

Several  detailed  statistical  studies  recently  made  confirm  our 
expectations  on  this  point,  and  agree  in  showing,  pretty  con- 
clusively, that  when  like  sex  and  age  classes  are  made  the  basis 
for  comparison  in  the  different  race  groups,  the  rate  of  crime  for 
the  foreign-born  white  population  of  all  races  is  no  higher,  to 
say  the  least,  than  that  of  the  native  white  population  of  native 
parentage;  and  that  the  difference  in  crime  rate  still  remaining 
after  sex  and  age  have  been  allowed  for,  between  the  different 
race  groups,  to  be  attributed  to  race  tendency,  is  so  slight  as  to 
be  negligible  as  a  social  factor.  Notwithstanding  this  explana- 
tion of  the  crime  rate,  however,  a  positive,  if  not  a  relative, 
increase  in  crime  remains  as  a  result  of  immigration,  and  if  the 
foreign  population  were  to  remain  predominantly  of  the  class 
that  furnishes  criminals,  there  would  still  be  serious  ground  of 
complaint.  But  it  will  not,  as  all  experience  up  to  this  time 
abundantly  shows.  Just  as  our  frontier  groups  have  grown  into 
settled  communities,  so  do  theirs.  As  soon  as  a  good  start  is 
made,  the  "birds  of  passage"  call  their  mates  from  over  sea, 
and  the  normal  life  of  a  settled  society  begins.  This  is  easily 


ON   IMMIGRATION  175 

seen  to  be  the  case  with  the  Irish,  the  Germans,  and  the  Scandi- 
navians ;  while  the  Hebrews,  for  the  most  part,  came  from  the 
first  in  family  groups.  The  Italians,  it  is  true,  may  seem  to 
form  an  exception  to  the  above  rule.  So  many  of  them  are  seen, 
yearly  or  monthly,  turning  back  to  the  old  home  with  their  little 
earnings,  that  it  is  no  wonder  they  are  generally  regarded  as  a 
floating  population  with  no  permanent  interests  here.  But  the 
net  result  of  all  this  ebbing  and  flowing  is  a  steady  current  setting 
this  way.  The  Italian,  it  would  seem,  after  a  period  of  oscilla- 
tion between  the  new  country  and  the  old, — a  movement  of 
adjustment  which  is,  indeed,  no  bad  preliminary  for  the  new  life, 
— ends,  like  his  brother  immigrants,  a  permanent  settler  in  our 
country. 

Independent.    72:304-7.    February  8,  1912 

Popular  Delusions  about  Immigration.     W.  F.  Willcox 

At  a  recent  meeting  of  economists  in  Washington  a  paper  was 
presented  advocating  more  drastic  restrictions  upon  immigration. 
At  the  start  it  summarized  the  leading  objections  to  the  present 
situation  under  eight  heads,  (i)  Numbers — "A  million  immi- 
grants a  year  is  more  than  this  country  can  look  after."  (2) 
Defective  assimilation  of  immigrants. \  (3)  Immigration  increases 
the  amount  of  pauperism  and  crime.  (4)  Imperfect  distribution 
of  immigrants.  (5)  Immigration  is  a  menace  to  American 
standards  of  wages  and  living.  (6)  Unhealthy  stimulation  of 
immigration  by  interested  parties.  (7)  Illegal  entry  of  many 
contract  laborers.  (8)  Immigration  does  not  benefit  the  country 
of  origin. 

Of  these  eight  objections  the  last  four  are  not  susceptible 
of  proof  or  disproof  by  conclusive  evidence.  The  first  four  can 
be  shown,  I  think,  to  be  popular  delusions. 

I.  Are  we  now  receiving  a  million  immigrants  a  year? 

In  only  four  years  of  our  history  down  to  1910  did  the 
number  of  immigrants  exceed  that  round  total.  To  be  sure,  all 
four  were  in  the  decade  1900-1910,  but  the  ten-year  total  was 
less  than  8,800,000,  or  an  annual  average  of  seven-eighths  of  a 
million.  And  this  does  not  exclude  those  leaving  our  shores. 
Fgr  the  last  three  years  of  the  decade  the  number  of  departing 


1 76  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

aliens  was  ascertained,  and  by  deducting  thffn  from  the  alien 
arrivals  the  Bureau  of  Immigration  found  the  net  annual  in- 
crease due  to  immigration.  That  net  increase  was  only  61  per 
cent  of  the  gross  immigration.  If  we  assume  that  the  net 
increase  from  immigration  during  the  whole  decade,  1900  to 
1910,  bore  the  same  relation  to  the  number  of  immigrants,  then 
the  net  additions  during  the  decade  would  be  5,365,000,  instead 
of  10,000,000,  or  about  536,000  a  year. 

The  net  addition  due  to  ten  years  of  immigration  may  also  be 
estimated  in  another  way  from  the  results  of  the  last  two 
censuses.  In  1900  there  were  ten  and  one-third  million  residents 
of  the  United  States  who  had  been  born  in  foreign  countries,  of 
whom  nearly  99  per  cent  were  white.  The  death  rate  in  1900  of 
abo  it  two-thirds  of  these,  that  is,  the  foreign-born  whites  resid- 
ing in  the  registration  area,  is  known.  It  was  19.4  per  1,000. 
If  the  number  of  foreign-born  in  the  United  States  in  1900  be 
multiplied  by  this  death  rate,  the  estimated  deaths  subtracted 
and  the  same  process  repeated  nine  times,  the  final  result,  eight 
and  one-half  million  (8,501,447),  is  the  estimated  number  of 
survivors  in  1910  of  those  immigrants  who  were  here  in  1900. 
We  need  to  know  also  the  total  foreign-born  in  the  United  States 
in  1910.  We  know  the  number  of  foreign-born  whites  and  can 
easily  estimate  the  few  foreign-born  colored  from  the  total 
which  is  known.  The  total  foreign-born  in  1910  was  very  close 
to  13,500,000.  On  subtracting  from  this  number  the  8,500,000 
survivors  of  the  foreign-born  who  were  in  this  country  in  1900, 
the  difference  (5,000,000)  represents  the  survivors  in  1910  of  the 
immigrants  of  1900-1910.  But  they  too  have  suffered  losses  from 
death.  If  we  assume  that  they  have  been  in  the  country  on  the 
average  five  years  and  that  their  death  rate  has  been  19.4,  the 
number  of  immigrants  requisite  to  leave  5,000,000  survivors  at 
the  end  of  five  years  would  be  5,516,000,  or  552,000  a  year.  Thus 
one  method  of  estimating  the  net  annual  increase  from  immigra- 
tion, 1900-1910,  yields  536,000  and  the  other  method  552,000.  It 
seems  safe  to  say  that  our  immigration  is  not  over  600,000  a  year 
net  and  consequently  that  the  estimate  of  "a  million  a  year" 
exceeds  the  probable  number  by  at  least  two-thirds. 

But  a  country  of  92,000,000  can  absorb  many  more  immigrants 
than  a  country  with  one-quarter  of  that  population,  which  was 
all  the  United  States  had  in  1850.  It  is  fair,  therefore,  to  com- 
pare the  immigration  in  any  decade  with  the  population  of  the 


ON   IMMIGRATION  177 

country  at  the  beginning  of  the  same  period.     The  results  since 
1840  are  as  follows : 

Immigrants  to 

1,000  initial 
Decade  population 

1841-1850     100 

1851-1860     .•.  .  .    no 

1861-1870 73 

1871-1880     73 

1881-1890     104 

1891-1900     61 

1901-1910  (gross)  '. 116 

1901-1910  (net)  72 

It  is  probable  that  in  the  earlier  decades  there  were  very 
few  "birds  of  passage,"  and  gross  immigration  and  net  immi- 
gration were  almost  the  same.  If  so,  the  net  immigration  1901- 
1910  was  less  than  the  net  immigration  1841-50  or  1851-60  and 
about  the  same  as  net  immigration  in  the  decades  of  the  civil 
war  and  of  the  hard  times  following  the  panic  of  1873.  It  was 
also  probably  less  than  the  net  immigration  of  the  decade  1881-90. 

This  objection  to  immigration  is  probably  the  fundamental 
one  and  certainly  is  the  only  one  which  can  .be  tested  by  the 
results  of  the  census  of  1910  so  far  published. 

II.  The  second  objection  is  that  "the  immigrants  are  poorly 
assimilated  or  not  assimilated  at  all."  Here  we  must  ask  for 
the  evidence.  But,  not  content  with  that,  let  me  offer  one  or 
two  opposing  considerations.  In  1890  among  the  foreign-born 
whites  at  least  ten  years  of  age  15.6  per  cent  were  reported  as 
unable  to  speak  English ;  in  1900  the  proportion  had  fallen  to 
12.2  per  cent.  Perhaps  the  quality  of  our  English  is  being 
debased,  but  in  that  decade  at  least  we  were  not  becoming  a 
more  polyglot  people  as  the  result  of  immigration. 

There  were  nearly  six  and  one-half  million  persons  of  foreign 
birth  in  the  United  States  in  1900  who  had  come  from  countries 
where  English  was  not  spoken.  Of  these  more  than  four-fifths 
(81.2  per  cent)  were  reported  as  able  to  speak  English.  The 
number  unable  to  speak  English  was  about  equal  apparently  to 
the  number  who  had  come  from  a  country  where  English  was  not 
spoken  and  had  been  in  the  United  States  less  than  eight  years. 
In  other  words,  it  takes  an  immigrant  who  cannot  speak  English 
when  he  arrives  apparently  about  eight  years  on  the  average  to 
learn  enough  of  the  language  to  claim  that  he  speaks  it.  In  the 


178  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

second  generation  the  process  is  practically  completed,  for  nearly 
99  per  cent  of  the  children  born  in  this  country  of  immigrants 
from  countries  where  English  is  not  spoken  and  at  least  ten 
years  old  in  1900  claimed  to  speak  English. 

Of  the  foreign-born  whites  at  least  ten  years  of  age  living 
in  New  York  State  in  1900  about  one-eighth,  or  exactly  119 
in  1,000,  were  reported  as  unable  to  speak  English,  but  of  their 
children  born  in  this  country  and  at  least  ten  years  of  age  in 
1900,  the  proportion  unable  to  speak  English  was  less  than  two 
in  1,000. 

Much  fear  has  been  exprest  lest  our  immigrants  should  per- 
manently lower  the  level  of  general  education.  This  fear  has 
led  many  to  favor  excluding  illiterate  immigrants.  The  illiter- 
acy of  most  such  immigrants  is  a  characteristic  of  the  country 
from  which  they  come  and  not  primarily  of  the  persons.  So  far 
as  census  figures  tell,  the  class  with  the  smallest  proportion  of 
illiterates  is  the  children  of  our  immigrants.  Thus  among  the 
children  ten  to  fourteen  years  of  age  born  of  our  native  white 
stock  forty-four  in  1,000  cannot  write;  among  the  children  of 
our  immigrants  of  the  same  age  only  nine  in  1,000  cannot  write. 
No  doubt  this  is  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  both  immigrants  and 
schools  are  more  abundant  in  the  North  than  in  the  South  and  in 
the  cities  than  in  the  country.  But  who  shall  say  that  the 
immigrants  do  not  avoid  the  South  and  the  country  districts 
largely  because  they  desire  for  themselves  and,  above  all,  for 
their  children  the  educational  advantages  and  other  opportunities 
which  are  still  found  mainly  in  our  cities  and  our  northern 
states?  I  do  not  believe  that  our  immigrants  as  a  class  need 
the  help  or  the  interference  of  government.  Many  of  them 
have  come  to  this  country  to  escape  a  well  meant  but  fretting 
and  harmful  control  on  the  part  of  those  in  power. 

III.  The  third  objection  is  that  "immigration  seriously  in- 
creases the  amount  of  pauperism  and  crime  in  the  United 
States."  I  grant  that  the  13,000,000  foreign  born  add  to  the 
'  amount  of  pauperism  and  crime.  To  make  an  effective  argument 
the  word  amount  should  be  changed  to  proportion  and  no  doubt 
this  is  meant.  Do  the  foreign-born  population  contribute  dis- 
proportionately to  the  crime  and  pauperism  of  the  country? 

I  have  found  nothing  to  prove  that  the  foreign  born  con- 
tribute more  largely  to  the  almshouse  population  or  the  prison 
population  than  do  the  native  whites  of  the  same  sex  and  age 


ON  IMMIGRATION  179 

residing  in  the  same  part  of  the  country.  In  the  northern  states 
paupers  in  almshouses  are  twice  as  numerous  relative  to  popula- 
tion as  they  are  in  the  southern  states,  and  this  because  the 
almshouse  system  of  caring  for  paupers  is  far  more  developed 
in  the  North  than  in  the  South.  The  foreign-born  have  a  pro- 
portion of  paupers  in  almshouses  larger  than  the  native  for 
much  the  same  reason  that  the  negroes  have  a  smaller  proportion 
than  either  of  the  other  classes,  namely,  the  negroes  live  where 
almshouses  are  few,  the  immigrants  where  they  are  many.  This 
fact  and  an  allowance  for  the  lower  average  income  of  the 
foreign-born  wo'uld  sufficiently  explain  the  fact  that  the  pro- 
portion of  foreign-born  in  the  almshouse  population  is  somewhat 
larger  than  in  the  population  outside.  But  when  we  consider  that 
more  than  nineteen-twentieths  of  the  foreign-born  in  almshouses 
have  been  in  the  United  States  longer  than  ten  years  it  cannot 
be  claimed  that  recent  immigrants  are  contributing  dispropor- 
tionately to  the  burden  of  pauperism. 

As  to  crime,  when  attention  is  confined  to  major,  or  serious, 
offenses,  the  proportion  of  foreign-born  whites  committed  to 
prison  is  almost  exactly  the  same  as  the  proportion  of  native 
whites  of  the  same  age.  For  example,  among  100,000  native 
whites  thirty  to  thirty-four  years  of  age,  forty-nine  were  com- 
mitted to  prison  for  serious  offenses  in  1904,  and  among  the 
same  number  of  foreign-born  white,  forty-eight. 

IV.  Lastly,  a  word  regarding  the  objection  that  the  immi- 
grants are  poorly  distributed.  The  results  of  the  preceding 
census  I  examined  in  an  article  on  "The  Distribution  of  Immi- 
grants," 1  the  main  conclusions  of  which  still  seem  to  me  sound. 
Doubtless  they  will  not  apply  without  considerable  modification 
to  the  widely  different  conditions  of  the  following  decade.  The 
distribution  of  the  foreign-born,  like  that  of  the  native  popula- 
tion, is  determined  by  the  interplay  of  motives,  largely  economic, 
inviting  to  a  change  of  residence  and  other  motives,  among 
which  human  inertia  is  important,  leading  to  a  retention  of  the 
present  abode.  The  foreign-born  population  is  probably  more 
migratory  within  the  country  than  the  native  population  and 
responds  more  quickly  to  the  suggestions  of  economic  or  other 
advantage.  On  the  other  hand,  this  class  probably  has  fewer 
and  less  trustworthy  sources  of  information.  I  see  little  objec- 
tion to  the  government's  gathering  reports  and  disseminating 

1  "Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  20:523-546,  August,   1906. 
12 


i8o  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

news  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  in  the  wise  distribution  of  our 
population,  whether  native  or  of  foreign  birth,  but  I  do  not 
anticipate  much  effect  from  such  governmental  activities.  What 
is  the  evidence  that  it  is  not  to  the  advantage  of  our  recent 
immigrants  to  stay  as  long  as  they  do  in  our  northeastern  states 
and  our  large  cities,  where  people  of  their  own  kind  are  con- 
gregated and  can  help,  far  more  effectively  than  the  government, 
their  first  steps  toward  American  citizenship? 

The  one  serious  objection  to  present  immigration  is  its 
menace  to  American  standards  of  wages  and  <?f  living.  This 
is  the  objection  emphasized  by  the  Immigration  Commission. 
The  cost  of  rearing  children  in  the  United  States  is  rapidly 
rising.  In  many,  perhaps  in  most,  cases  it  is  simpler,  speedier 
and  cheaper  to  import  labor  than  to  breed  it.  The  arguments 
in  favor  of  more  drastic  restriction  for  this  reason  are  strength- 
ening with  the  increasing  cost  of  living  and  of  rearing  children. 
The  time  may  have  come  for  more  radical  methods  of  restriction. 
In  that  case  a  heavy  increase  of  the  head  tax  so  as  to  make  the 
cost  of  producing  laborers  in  other  countries  and  importing  them 
more  nearly  equal  to  what  it  now  costs  to  rear  children  for  the 
labor  market  in  the  United  States  seems  to  me  the  simplest  and 
best  method  of  protecting  our  wage-earning  class  from  debasing 
competition. 

The  American  People 

Influence  of  Immigration  on  American  Development. 
A.    Maurice    Low 

A  new  nation,  according  to  an  American  writer  on  immigra- 
tion who  fears  the  danger  of  immigration,  derives  its  whole 
character  and  has  its  whole  future  determined  by  its  first 
settlers,1  a  proposition  with  which  I  agree,  as  it  confirms  the 
result  of  my  investigations  that  the  character  of  America  has 
been  determined  by  its  Puritan  ancestry ;  but  the  corollary  of  his 
proposition — when  subsequent  immigration  takes  place  on  a  scale 
large  in  relation  to  the  total  population,  equally  far-reaching 
changes  may  be  made  in  the  nation's  institutions  and  ideals — is 
an  assertion  too  dogmatic  and  not  sufficiently  sustained  by  the 
facts,  so  far  at  least  as  the  United  States  is  concerned,  to  be 

1Hall:   "Immigration,"  p.   100. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  181 

accepted  without  qualification.  The  institutions  and  ideals  of  a 
nation,  the  character  and  speech  of  a  people,  their  morals  and 
their  customs,  may  be  corrupted  or  improved  by  contact  with  or 
by  being  brought  under  subjection  to  a  more  virile  or  aggressive 
race,  but  mere  numbers  are  not  the  determining  factor.  We  have 
seen  that  the  institutions  and  ideals  of  America  are  English,  and 
although  there  was  a  simultaneous  colonization  of  America  by 
the  English,  the  French,  the  Spanish,  the  Dutch,  and  the  Swedes, 
it  is  only  English  speech  and  English  customs  and  English  ideals 
that  have  survived ;  we  search  in  vain  for  any  lasting  impression 
that  has  been  made  on  the  speech  of  America,  on  its  legal  or 
political  systems,  on  its  concept  of  morality,  on  its  literature  or 
its  customs  by  colonizers  other  than  English;  it  is  as  if  they 
had  not  existed ;  as  if,  similar  to  the  Indians,  they  could  not 
be  assimilated,  nor  were  they  virile  enough  to  impose  their 
civilization  upon  the  conquering  white  "immigrant."  So  far  as 
the  later  immigration  is  concerned,  that  which  began  in  the 
first  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  has  continued,  we  are 
unable  to  find  that  it  changed  either  the  nation's  institutions  or 
ideals  or  that  it  has  had  the  slightest  effect  upon  its  political 
system.  The  millions  of  foreigners  who  have  settled  in  America 
and  have  become  Americans  have  not  modified  by  a  hair's 
breadth  the  fundamental  code  that  was  given  to  the  people  by  its 
first  lawgivers. 

It  required  a  great  many  years  before  the  world  would  admit 
the  truth  of  the  seemingly  paradoxical  discovery  made  by  Gre- 
sham  that  bad  money  drives  out  good,  because  to  the  ignorant  it 
appeared  that  the  reverse  must  be  true;  but  now  the  law  stands 
unchallenged.  In  the  same  way  the  world  has  for  a  long  period 
of  years  believed  that  the  socially  lower  immigrant  debases  the 
more  highly  civilized  native-born ;  but  this  is  a  fallacy. 

The  law  of  immigration — a  law  as  exact  in  its  operation  as 
the  law  of  Gresham  in  finance  or  of  Newton  in  gravitation — 
can  thus  be  briefly  summarized: — 

Where  people  of  a  lower  order  of  civilization  are  brought  in 
contact  with  a  more  numerous  people,  possessed  of  an  advanced 
civilization,  firmly  planted  in  its  own  traditions,  customs,  and 
institutions,  with  a  political  system  that  permits  the  immigrant 
to  enjoy  equal  political  and  social  rights  with  the  native-born, 
the  effect  is  n6t  to  degrade  the  higher  civilization  but  eventually 
to  raise  the  lower. 


182  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

The  effect  of  immigration,  therefore,  is  not  to  drag  down  the 
native-born  to  the  level  of  the  immigrant,  but  to  raise  the  immi- 
grant to  the  level  of  the  native-born.1 

The  ambition  of  the  male  immigrant  is  to  marry  the  native- 
born,  for  that  is  one  of  the  means  to  advance  in  the  social  scale. 
Before  he  can  gratify  his  ambition,  however,  he  must  have  raised 
himself  out  of  his  immediate  surrounding's  and  have  something 
to  offer  the  woman  he  would  marry.  He  is  the  exceptional 
member  of  his  class.  He  has  physical  or  mental  qualities  that 
distinguish  him  from  his  fellow-immigrants.  There  is  little  if 
any  desire  on  the  part  of  the  native-born  to  marry  the  immigrant, 
for  that  is  a  step  downward  in  the  social  scale.  Such  marriages 
are  marriages  of  passion  and  are  rare. 

The  effect  of  immigration,  therefore,  is  to  replenish  and 
fortify  the  native  stock  by  the  process  of  selection  on  the  male 
side. 

A  high  birth-rate  is  an  indication  of  a  low  order  of  civiliza- 
tion. As  a  consequence  of  immigration  the  birth-rate  of  the 
immigrant  is  reduced  until  finally  it  falls  to  the  normal  level  of 
the  more  civilized  people  into  which  the  immigrant  has  been 
absorbed. 

The  effect  of  immigration,  therefore,  is  not  to  destroy  civili- 
sation by  an  abnormal  and  harmful  birth-rate,  but  to  restrict 
both  native  and  foreign  births  to  the  ratio  that  nature  has 
determined  will  best  conduce  to  the  physical,  intellectual,  and 
social  development  of  the  race.  % 

The  causes  of  immigration  are  poverty,  denial  of  opportunity, 
and  the  hope  of  wealth ;  and  the  latter  must  be  regarded  as  a 
relative  term  purely.  It  is  early  impressed  on  the  immigrant 
that  to  succeed  he  must  become  a  part  of  the  people  among  whom 
he  lives:  he  must  speak  their  tongue,  for  they  will  not  speak 
his ;  he  must  imitate  their  habits ;  he  must  follow  their  customs. 
The  sooner  he  ceases  to  be  an  immigrant,  that  is,  a  foreigner  and 
a  stranger,  the  sooner  he  reaches  his  goal. 

The  effect  of  immigration,  therefore,  is  not  to  engraft  foreign 
speech,  customs,  and  manners  upon  a  people  possessed  of  their 
own  language,  customs,  and  manners,  nor  to  bastardise  the  lan- 
guage, customs,  and  manners  of  a  superior  civilisation. 

The  native-born  children  of  immigrants  learn  more  rapidly 
the  language  of  their -nativity  than  they  acquire  that  of  their 

1  Author's  italics. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  183 

parents.  Thrown  from  an  early  age  in  contact  with  the  native- 
born,  working  for  them  in  menial  and  subordinate  positions, 
realizing  the  gulf  that  separates  the  native-born  from  the  immi- 
grant and  that  the  native-born  dominate,  the  child  of  the  immi- 
grant is  unconsciously  brought  under  native  influences  and  is 
impelled  to  speak,  to  look,  to  dress,  and  in  every  way  to 
imitate  his  superior.  The  ambition  of  the  immigrant's  child  is 
to  be  absorbed  into  the  people  of  whom  he  is  one  by  birth,  for 
his  "foreignness"  is  not  a  source  of  pride,  but  a  handicap  to 
success  and  a  career.  He  has  no  repugnance  to  this  merging 
of  his  nationality,  he  does  not  attempt  to  resist  it,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  he  facilitates  it  by  every  means  in  his  power. 

The  effect  of  immigration,  therefore,  is  not  to  perpetuate  and 
increase  the  foreign  element  by  the  immigrant  transmitting  his 
speech  and  customs  to  his  posterity,  but  is  to  merge  the  native- 
born  children  of  immigrants  into  the  native  population. 

The  immigrant  is  compelled  to  accept  the  least  desirable  and 
lowest  remunerated  employment,  thus  displacing  the  native-born, 
who  are  forced  to  seek  work  demanding  more  skill  and  com- 
manding higher  wages. 

The  effect  of  immigration,  therefore,  is  not  to  lower  wages 
and  create  unemployment,  but  is  to  raise  the  social  and  industrial 
status  of  the  native  wage-earner. 

American  Journal  of  Sociology.     18:391-7.     November,  1912 

Bird  of  Passage.    W.  B.  Bailey 

By  the  term  "bird  of  passage,"  as  used  in  this  article,  is  meant 
the  male  laborer  who  comes  to  the  United  States  with  the  inten- 
tion of  earning  and  saving  money  while  employed  here,  and  who, 
satisfied  with  his  competence  or  finding  the  opportunity  for  em- 
ployment gone  through  the  beginning  of  a  period  of  industrial  de- 
pression, returns  home  with  his  savings.  Few  of  these  laborers 
take  all  of  their  savings  with  them  upon  their  departure,  but  in 
most  cases  out  of  their  savings  have  been  from  time  to  time  send- 
ing money  to  friends  or  relatives  in  the  home  country  for  their 
support,  to  pay  off  the  mortgage  on  the  home  farm,  to  purchase 
land,  or  to  improve  the  property  already  possessed.  Improve- 
ments made  with  American  money  upon  small  farms  are 
frequently  seen  in  villages  of  Austria-Hungary  and  Italy. 


184  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

When  the  only  information  concerning  the  opportunities  for 
employment  in  the  United  States  offered  to  Europeans  came 
through  occasional  books  by  travelers  or  letters  from  friends  and 
relatives,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  illiterate  working 
population  of  eighteenth-century  Europe  would  look  for  the 
chance  for  temporary  employment  across  the  ocean.  Nor  were 
such  opportunities  available  in  the  United  States.  Capital  for 
large  undertakings  was  scarce  and  the  digging  of  canals  offered 
the  first  opportunity  for  the  employment  of  low-grade  labor  upon 
a  large  scale.  From  about  1840  date  the  large  constructive 
operations  of  this  country.  Even  if  the  demand  for  the  "bird 
of  passage"  had  existed  in  this  country  previous  to  1850  and  this 
demand  had  been  known  throughout  Europe,  it  is  improbable  that 
it  could  have  been  met,  because  a  means  of  cheap  and  rapid 
ocean  transportation  had  not  been  provided.  Transportation  was 
slow,  expensive,  and,  with  the  facilities  at  that  time,  inconvenient 
and  dangerous.  The  possibility  of  typhus  fever  was  not  to 
be  encountered  lightly  nor  with  the  possibility  of  small  finan- 
cial advantage.  The  population  of  Europe  was  land  hungry  and 
it  was  the  opportunity  offered  by  the  cheap,  fertile  land  of  this 
country  which  attracted  settlers.  Labor  was  scarce  and  wages 
high  in  the  United  States  but  this  was  due  rather  to  the  presence 
of  unoccupied  land  than  to  the  demands  of  industry.  It  has 
been  only  since  the  Civil  War  that  the  conditions  of  demand  and 
supply  have  been  favorable  to  the  "bird  of  passage"  and  it  is  not 
surprising  that  we  should  be  confronted  with  an  international 
movement  of  considerable  magnitude.  Although  most  students 
of  immigration  seem  to  be  united  in  their  belief  that  this  country 
should  welcome  able-bodied,  normal  persons  of  decent  habits  who 
desire  to  settle  permanently  in  the  United  States,  there  is  a 
general  feeling  that  the  "bird  of  passage"  forms  a  conspicuous 
exception  to  this  rule  and  that  this  migrant  to  the  United  States 
is  not  be  encouraged.  The  objections  which  have  been  raised 
against  him  can  be  grouped  under  four  heads : 

1.  Since  he  does  not  intend  to  settle  in  this  country  he  is  not 
likely  to.  be  interested  in  American  institutions,  to  adopt  Ameri- 
can customs,  or  to  acquire  American  ideals.     He   furnishes  an 
alien  element  in  our  body  politic. 

2.  The  money  which  he  saves  in  this  country  is  not  deposited 
in   American  banks  to  be  used  to  develop  our  industries,  but  is 
sent    abroad.     This    constitutes    a  permanent    drain    upon    our 
resources,  amounting  to  millions  of  dollars  annually. 


ON  IMMIGRATION    t  185 

3.  The    competition    of    this    laborer,    accustomed    to    foreign 
standards,  tends  to  lower  the  American  standard  of  living  and 
makes  it  difficult  for  the  American  laborer  to  compete  with  him. 

4.  The  presence  of  a  supply  of  migratory  laborers  tends,  by 
stimulating  the  overproduction  of  commodities,  to  lead  to  indus- 
trial crises.     If  the  supply  of  labor  in  a  country  were  fixed,  the 
increase    in    the   demand    for   laborers   would    lead   to   increased 
wages    which    would    make    entrepreneurs    more    careful    about 
increasing   production. 

There  undoubtedly  is  truth  in  each  one  of  these  objections, 
but  there  are  accompanying  advantages  which  have  been  but  little 
emphasized  by  students  of  this  problem.  There  is  little  doubt  that 
this  large  number  of  temporary  migrants  tends  to  reduce  the 
variations  in  the  price  of  labor  by  keeping  the  ratio  of  demand  to 
supply  more  nearly  constant.  When  the  coming  of  industrial 
prosperity  causes  an  increase  in  the  demand  for  labor,  this  demand 
is  met,  in  part,  by  the  immigration  of  Europeans.  When  the 
demand  falls  off  and  a  period  of  depression  approaches,  the  supply 
is  diminished  by  the  return  of  these  immigrants  to  their  home 
country.  The  statistics  of  the  arrival  and  departure  of  immi- 
grants for  the  past  few  years  show  this  conclusively.  The 
arrival  of  tens  of  thousands  of  this  class  in  good  seasons 
undoubtedly  tends  to  limit  the  rise  in  the  rate  of  wages  in  this 
country  and  thus  furnishes  grounds  for  the  criticism  of  labor 
leaders,  but  when  hard  times  come  these  same  laborers  return 
home  and  reduce  the  supply  at  the  very  time  when  the  demand  is 
beginning  to  fall  off.  Those  who  return  are  not  the  ones  who 
have  saved  the  most  money  and  made  the  greatest  advance  in 
this  country,  but  those  whose  departure  is  hastened  by  the 
insecurity  of  their  position  here.  During  the  depression  of  1907 
nearly  three  thousand  Italians  left  New  Haven,  Conn.,  for  the 
home  country,  and  a  careful  investigation  showed  that  those  to 
depart  were  the  ones  who  felt  themselves  in  the  poorest  position 
to  withstand  a  period  of  depression.  They  earned  their  money 
in  a  country  of  high  prices,  but  when  employment  ceased  they 
preferred  to  spend  their  earnings  in  a  country  of  low  prices. 
The  result  of  such  migration  during  the  crisis  is  to  limit  the 
fall  in  wages  and  to  free  the  community  from  the  necessity  of 
supporting  a  number  of  unemployed  who  have  made  scant  pro- 
vision for  the  future.  The  labor  union  leaders  were  never  so 
successful  in  combating  a  fall  in  the  rate  of  wages  during  a 
period  of  industrial  depression  as  in  1907-8,  and  it  may  be  seri- 


186  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

ously  asked  whether  this  was  not  due  in  part  to  the  reduction  in 
the  supply  of  labor  caused  by  the  withdrawal  over-sea  of  so 
many  thousands  of  temporary  migrants. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  wages  in  this  country  during  pros- 
perous times  are  kept  at  a  lower  level  than  would  be  the  case  if 
immigration  were  prohibited.  It  may  be  that  crises  are  hastened 
since  entrepreneurs  are  not  warned  by  an  increase  in  the  rate  of 
wages  that  stormy  times  are  ahead.  But  it  is  also  true  that 
certain  of  the  most  unfortunate  effects  of  hard  times,  a  decrease 
in  the  rate  of  wages  and  a  great  increase  in  the  number  of 
dependents  upon  charity,  are  less  apparent  when  the  supply  of 
laborers  decreases  at  the  time  when  the  demand  for  them 
reaches  a  low  point.  It  is  also  difficult  to  prove  that  industrial 
crises  are  most  frequent  or  most  severe  in  those  countries  which 
are  receiving  these  temporary  migrants  in  large  numbers. 

It  may  be  unfortunate  that  many  employments  are  seasonal 
and  that  many  operations  can  be  conducted  only  in  warm  weather. 
But  we  must  make  the  best  of  things  as  they  are.  There  will 
continue  to  be  a  demand  for  seasonal  labor  in  agriculture  and 
construction  in  this  country.  This  demand  can  best  be  met  by 
single  men,  who,  unhampered  by  family  ties,  feel  free  to  accept 
temporary  employment.  Most  of  these  laborers  spend  the  winters 
in  the  cities  where  there  is  a  continual  surplus  of  unskilled  labor. 
It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  interests  of  this  country  can  be 
injuriously  affected  if  these  surplus  laborers  choose  to  return  to 
the  home  country,  there  to  remain  until  there  is  a  demand  for 
their  services  in  the  United  States. 

Our  country  certainly  owes  a  debt  to  Europe  in  that  every 
group  of  returning  immigrants  contains  some  whose  vitality  has 
been  impaired  by  severe  labor.  Others  have  been  the  victims  of 
industrial  accident  and  return  to  the  home  country  with  maimed 
bodies.  Compensation  for  such  injuries  is  a  farce  in  many  cases 
and  if  they  have  succeeded  in  saving  something  from  their 
wages,  and  wish  to  spend  their  remaining  days  in  a  country  of 
low  prices,  we  should  not  consider  that  we  have  been  wronged 
by  such  action.  They  came  to  us  in  the  prime  of  life,  filled  with 
hope  and  enthusiasm,  they  performed  heroic  service  in  our  mines 
and  factories,  and  now  are  "scrapped"  to  increase  the  number 
of  non-efficients  at  home.  Perhaps  we  find  it  cheaper  to  import 
our  workers  than  to  raise  them.  It  may  be  cheaper  to  send  home 
the  worn-out  and  disabled  industrial  veterans  than  to  support 


ON  IMMIGRATION  187 

them   here.     In   either   case  we  owe  something  to  the  "bird  of 
passage"  and   the  country  which  reared  him. 

That  financial  system  is  generally  considered  the  best  which 
is  most  elastic.  A  system  which  will  not  meet  the  fluctuations 
of  trade  is  unsatisfactory.  In  the  matter  of  employment  the 
"bird  of  passage"  serves  as  a  sort  of  floating  dock  to  rise  and 
fall  with  the  tides  of  industrial  ebb  and  flow  and  render  more 
stable  the  rate  of  wages. 

Immigration  and  Labor;  a  Summary 

Isaac  A.  Hourwich 

There  is  no  real  ground  for  the  popular  opinion  that  the 
immigrants  of  the  present  generation  are  drawn  from  a  poorer 
class  than  their  predecessors.  It  is  a  historical  fact  that  prior 
to  1820  the  great  majority  of  the  immigrants  were  too  poor  to 
prepay  their  passage,  which  never  cost  as  much  as  $50  per 
steerage  passenger;  the  usual  way  for  a  poor  man  to  secure 
transportation  for  himself  and  family  was  to  contract  to  be  sold 
into  servitude  after  arrival.  The  next  generation  of  immigrants 
was  not  much  better  off.  According  to  contemporary  testimony, 
the  millions  of  Irish  and  Germans  who  came  in  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century  were  ignorant  and  accustomed  to  a  very 
low  standard  of  living.  Since  the  races  of  southern  and  eastern 
Europe  have  become  predominant  among  immigrants  to  the 
United  States,  the  steerage  rates  have  been  doubled,  the  increase 
being  equivalent  to  a  heavy  head  tax.  The  higher  cost  of  trans- 
portation must  have  raised  the  financial  standard  of  the  new 
immigration,  as  compared  with  the  immigrants  of  the  7o's  and 
the  early  8o's.  This  inference  is  borne  out  by  the  fact  that  the 
percentage  of  illiteracy  is  much  Tower  among  the  immigrants 
than  among  their  countrymen  who  remain  at  home.  Illiteracy 
is  generally  the  effect  of  poverty.  The  higher  literacy  of  the 
immigrant  may  be  accepted  as  evidence  that  economically  the 
immigrant  must  be  above  the  average  of  his  mother  country. 

The  complaint  that  the  new  immigrants  do  not  easily  "assimi- 
late" is  also  as  old  as  immigration  itself.  Today  the  Germans 
are  reckoned  by  courtesy  among  the  "English-speaking  races." 
But  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  growth 
of  German  colonies  in  all  large  cities  caused  the  same  apprehen- 


i88  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

sion  in  the  minds  of  their  American  contemporaries  as  the 
Jewish,  the  Italian,  and  the  Slav  colonies  of  our  day.  Statistics 
show,  however,  that  the  new  immigrant  races  number  among 
them  as  large  a  percentage  of  English-speaking  persons  as  the 
Germans  who  have  lived  in  the  United  States  the  same  length 
of  time. 

The  only  real  difference  between  the  old  immigration  and  the 
new  is  that  of  numbers.  To  the  workman  who  complains  that 
he  has  been  crowded  out  of  his  job  by  another,  it  would  afford 
little  comfort  to  feel  that  the  man  who  had  taken  his  place  was 
of  Teuton  or"  Celtic,  rather  than  of  Latin  or  Slav  stock.  The 
true  reason  why  the  ltold  immigration"  is  preferred  is  that  there 
is  very  much  less  of  it. 

As  stated,  the  demand  for  restriction  proceeds  from  the 
assumption  that  the  American  labor  market  is  overstocked  by 
immigration.  Comparative  statistics  of  industry  and  population 
in  the  United  States  show,  however,  that  immigration  merely 
follows  opportunities  for  employment.  In  times  of  business  ex- 
pansion immigrants  enter  in  increasing  numbers ;  in  times  of 
business  depression  their  numbers  decline.  The  immigration 
movement  is  further  balanced  by  emigration  from  the  United 
States.  As  a  rule,  the  causes  which  retard  immigration  also 
accelerate  the  return  movement  from  this  country.  It  is  cus- 
tomary to  condemn  the  "bird  of  passage,"  but  so  long  as  there 
are  variations  in  business  activity  from  season  to  season  and 
from  year  to  year,  the  American  wage-earner  has  no  cause  to 
complain  of  the  immigrants  who  choose  to  leave  this  country 
temporarily  while  there  is  no  demand  for  their  services,  thereby 
reducing  unemployment  in  its  acutest  stage. 

It  is  broadly  asserted  by  restriction  advocates  that  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  Slav,  Italian,  Greek,  Syrian,  and  other 
immigrant  mine  and  mill  workers  have  been  "imported"  by 
capitalists — in  other  words,  that  they  are  all  contract  laborers. 
This  belief  offers  to  the  student  of  folk-lore  a  typical  example 
of  twentieth  century  myth-building.  None  of  the  official  investi- 
gations of  immigration  has  disclosed  any  evidence  of  importation 
of  laborers  under  contract  on  a  large  scale,  although  prior  to 
the  enactment  of  the  law  of  1885  excluding  contract  laborers 
there  was  no  reason  to  conceal  the  fact.  It  is  quite  conceivable 
that  in  the  case  of  a  strike  a  great  corporation  might  have 
resorted  to  the  importation  of  a  large  force  of  strikebreakers 


ON  IMMIGRATION  189 

regardless  of  cost.  As  a  general  rule,  however,  with  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  immigrants  coming  to  this  country  annually,  it 
would  be  a  waste  of  money  to  "induce"  immigration.  The  few 
actual  violations  of  the  contract  labor  law  that  elude  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  immigration  authorities  cannot  affect  the  labor 
market 

The  real  agents  who  regulate  the  immigration  movement  are 
the  millions  of  earlier  immigrants  already  in  the  United  States. 
It  is  they  that  advance  the  cost  of  passage  of  a  large  proportion 
of  the  new  immigrants.  When  the  owtlook  for  employment  is 
good,  they  send  for  their  relatives,  or  encourage  their  friends  to 
come.  When  the  demand  for  labor  is  slack,  the  foreign-born 
workman  must  hold  his  savings  in  reserve,  to  provide  for  possible 
loss  of  employment.  At  such  times  no  wage-earner  will  assume 
the  burden  of  providing  for  a  relative  or  friend,  who  might  for 
a  long  time  be  unable  to  secure  employment.  It  is  in  this  way 
that  the  business  situation  in  the  United  States  reacts  upon  the 
volume  of  immigration.  The  fluctuating  supply  of  immigrant 
labor,  like  that  of  any  other  commodity,  may  sometimes  outrun 
the  demand  and  at  other  times  lag  behind  it,  yet,  if  we  compare 
the  totals  for  industrial  cycles,  comprising  years  of  panic,  of 
depression,  and  of  prosperity,  within  the  past  sixty  years,  we 
find  that  the  ratio  of  immigration  to  population  has  been  well- 
nigh  constant.  In  the  long  run  immigration  adjusts  itself  to  the 
demand  for  labor. 

This  proposition  seems  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  presence  at 
all  times  of  a  vast  number  of  unemployed.  Apparently,  there  are 
already  more  men  than  jobs  in  the  United  States;  every  new 
immigrant,  in  order  to  live,  must  take  away  the  job  from  some 
one  else  who  has  been  here  before.  On  closer  study,  however, 
it  is  found  that  unemployment  is  not  the  effect  of  an  absolute 
surplus  population.  It  arises,  notwithstanding  a  growing  demand 
for  labor,  from  the  fluctuations  in  the  distribution  of  the  demand. 
The  most  generally  recognized  cause  of  unemployment  is  seasonal 
variation  of  business  activity.  There  are  trades  dependent  largely 
upon  climatic  conditions  and  partly  upon  social  customs.  In 
the  period  of  maximum  activity  the  demand  for  labor  in 
such  trades  may  often  so  far  exceed  the  supply  as  to  necessi- 
tate overtime  work;  yet  this  shortage  of  labor  will  not  save 
a  portion  of  the  force  from  idleness  at  other  times  of  the 
year.  The  only  class  of  labor  which  is  capable  of  shifting  from 


ipo  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

one  industry  to  another  in  response  to  variations  in  demand  is 
unskilled  labor.  But  the  localization  of  industries  sets  a  limit  to 
the  mobility  of  unskilled  labor.  In  order  to  eliminate  unemploy- 
ment it  would  be  necessary  to  dovetail  the  busy  and  the  slack 
seasons  in  the  various  industries  upon  such  a  plan  as  would 
produce  an  even  distribution  of  the  work  of  the  nation  over  all 
seasons  of  the  year.  This  might  be  possible  if  all  mines,  mills, 
and  transportation  lines  were  operated  by  one  nation-wide  trust. 
So  long,  however,  as  production  is  controlled  by  many  com- 
peting employers,  each  subject  to  his  own  vicissitudes  of  busi- 
ness, insecurity  of  employment  is  inevitable.  The  normal  state 
of  every  industry  is  to  have  a  larger  force  than  can  ever  find 
employment  in  it  at  any  one  time.  The  labor  reserve  is  as  much 
a  part  of  the  industrial  system  as  the  regular  force. 

Still,  the  labor  market  being  normally  overstocked,  it  sounds 
plausible  that  the  immigrant,  who  is  accustomed  to  a  lower 
standard  of  living  at  home  than  the  American  workman,  will  be 
able  to  underbid  and  displace  his  American  competitor.  If  this 
view  were  correct,  we  should  find,  in  the  first  place,  a  higher 
percentage  of  unemployment  among  the  native  than  among  the 
foreign-born  breadwinners.  Statistics,  however,  show  that  the 
proportion  of  unemployment  is  the  same  for  native  and  foreign- 
born  wage-earners.  The  immigrant  has  no  advantage  over  the 
native  American  in  securing  or  retaining  employment.  In  the 
next  place,  we  should  find  more  unemployment  in  those  sections 
of  the  United  States  where  the  immigrants  are  most  numerous. 
In  fact,  however,  the  ratio  of  unemployment  in  manufactures  is 
the  same  in  the  North  Atlantic  states  with  a  large  immigrant 
population  as  in  the  South  Atlantic  states  where  the  percentage 
of  foreign-born  is  negligible.  Coal  miners  are  thought  to  have 
suffered  most  from  immigration.  Yet  it  appears  that  Pennsyl- 
vania, which  is  among  the  states  with  the  highest  percentage  of 
foreign-born  miners,  has  the  second  lowest  percentage  of  unem- 
ployment. The  highest  ratio  of  unemployment,  according  to 
the  latest  published  census  data,  was  found  in  West  Virginia, 
where  the  percentage  of  foreign-born  miners  was  next  to  the 
lowest.  A  similar  relation  between  unemployment  and  the  pro- 
portion of  immigrants  is  observed  among  cotton-mill  operatives 
and  common  laborers :  immigrants  are  not  attracted  to  those 
states  where  opportunities  for  regular  employment  are  less 
favorable. 


ON   IMMIGRATION  191 

Furthermore,  if  there  existed  a  causal  connection  between 
immigration  and  unemployment,  there  should  have  been  more 
unemployment  in  those  years  when  immigration  was  greater, 
and  vice  versa.  The  figures  show,  on  the  contrary,  that  there 
was  less  unemployment  during  the  first  seven  years  of  the  present 
century  with  immigration  at  a  high  tide  than  during  the  preced- 
ing decade  when  immigration  was  at  a  low  ebb. 

Still  an  oversupply  of  labor  may  produce  a  latent  form  of 
unemployment  which  could  be  described  as  underemployment: 
all  employees  may  be  kept  on  the  rolls,  and  yet  be  idle  a  part 
of  every  week.  Again,  however,  we  find  that  the  average  number 
of  days  of  employment  per  wage-earner  increases  as  immigration 
increases,  and  declines  as  immigration  declines. 
f  The  relation  between  immigration  and  unemployment  may 
thus  be  summed  up  in  the  following  propositions :  Unemploy- 
ment and  immigration  are  the  effects  of  economic  forces  working 
in  opposite  directions :  those  which  produce  business  expansion 
reduce  unemployment  and  attract  immigration;  those  which  pro- 
duce business  depression  increase  unemployment  and  reduce 
immigration.  ) 

Yet  it  may  be  said  that  while  immigration  is  not  a  contributory 
cause  of  unemployment,  restriction  of  immigration  might  never- 
theless reduce  unemployment.  This  supposition  is  negatived  by 
the  experience  of  Australia,  where  emigration  exceeds  immigra- 
tion. Australia  is  a  new  country  with  an  area  as  great  as  that 
of  the  United  States,  while  its  population  at  the  census  of  1906 
was  half  a  million  short  of  the  population  of  New  York  City 
at  the  census  of  1910.  Yet  Australia  has  as  much  unemployment 
as  the  state  of  New  York,  which  is  teeming  with  immigrants.  It 
is  evident  that  unemployment  is  produced  by  the  modern  organi- 
zation of  industry  even  in  the  absence  of  immigration. 

The  effect  of  immigration  upon  labor  in  the  United  States 
has  been  a  readjustment  of  the  population  on  the  scale  of  occu- 
pations. The  majority  of  Americans  of  native  parentage  are 
engaged  in  farming,  in  business,  in  the  professions,  and  in 
clerical  pursuits.  The  majority  of  the  immigrants,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  industrial  wage-earners.  Only  in  exceptional  cases 
has  this  readjustment  been  attended  by  actual  displacement  of 
the  native  or  Americanized  wage-earner.  In  the  course  of  indus- 
trial evolution  some  trades  have  declined  owing  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  new  methods  of  production.  In  such  cases  there  was 


192  ,  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

naturally  a  decrease  of  the  number  of  native  as  well  as  of  foreign- 
born  workers.  As  a  rule,  however,  the  supply  of  immigrant 
labor  has  been  absorbed  by  the  increasing  demand  for  labor  in 
all  industries  without  leaving  a  surplus  sufficient  to  displace  the 
native  or  older  immigrant  wage-earner.  There  were  but  a  few 
occupations  which  showed  an  actual,  not  a  relative  decrease  of 
native  Americans  of  native  stock.  This  decrease  was  due  to  the 
disinclination  of  the  young  generation  to  follow  the  pursuits  of 
their  fathers;  the  new  accessions  from  native  stock  were  insuf- 
ficient to  replace  the  older  men  as  they  were  dying  off,  and  the 
vacancies  were  gradually  filled  up  by  immigrants.  But  for  every 
position  given  up  by  a  native  American  there  were  many  new 
openings  filled  by  native  American  wage-earners. 

The  westward  movement  of  American  and  Americanized 
wage>-earners  and  the  concentration  of  immigrants  in  a  few 
eastern  and  central  states  have  been  interpreted  as  the  "displace- 
ment" of  the  English-speaking  workmen  from  the  mills  and 
mines  of  the  East  by  the  new  immigration.  An  examination  of 
the  figures  shows,  however,  that  during  the  past  thirty  years 
mining  and  manufacturing  grew  much  faster  in  the  West  and 
South  than  in  the  East  and  drew  some  of  the  native  workers  and 
earlier  immigrants  from  the  older  manufacturing  states.  But 
the  demand  for  labor  grew  in  the  old  states  as  well.  The  places 
left  vacant  by  the  old  employees  who  had  gone  westward  had 
to  be  filled  by  new  immigrants. 

The  desertion  of  mills  and  factories  by  native  American  girls 
has  also  been  explained  as  their  "displacement"  by  immigrants. 
The  motive  assigned  is  not  economic,  but  racial:  it  is  the  social 
prejudice  against  the  immigrant  that  has  forced  the  American 
girl  to  quit.  It  seems,  however,  that  this  explanation  mistakes 
cause  for  effect:  the  social  stigma  attaching  to  working  associ- 
ation with  immigrants  is  not  the  cause  but  the  effect  of  the 
desertion  of  the  mills  and  factories  by  native  American  women. 
The  psychological  interpretation  overlooks  one  of  the  greatest 
economic  changes  that  has  taken  place  in  the  United  States  since 
the  civil  war :  the  admission  of  women  to  most  of  the  pursuits 
which  were  formerly  regarded  as  peculiarly  masculine.  For  every 
native  woman  of  American  parentage  who  left  the  mill  or  cloth- 
ing factory  there  were  forty  women  of  the  same  nativity  who 
found  new  openings.  The  increase  of  the  number  of  native 
American  professional  women  was  nearly  five  times  as  great  as 


ON  IMMIGRATION  193 

the  decrease  of  the  number  of  native  American  factory  girls. 
The  marvelous  progress  of  the  American  educational  system  has 
fitted  the  native  American  woman  for  other  work  than  manual 
labor  and  has  at  the  same  time  opened  to  her  a  new  field  in 
which  she  does  not  meet  the  competition  of  the  immigrant. 

There  is  absolutely  no  statistical  proof  of  an  oversupply  of 
unskilled  labor  resulting  in  the  displacement  of  native  by 
immigrant  laborers.  No  decrease  of  the  number  of  common 
laborers  among  the  native  white  of  native  or  foreign  parentage 
appears  in  any  of  the  great  states  which  serve  as  receptacles  for 
immigration.  The  same  is  true  of  miners.  In  none  of  the  states 
affected  by  the  new  immigration  has  there  been  a  decrease  in  the 
number  of  native  miners.  Such  states  as  Pennsylvania  and 
Illinois  showed  large  increases  in  the  number  of  native  miners, 
both  of  foreign  and  native  parentage.  The  iron  and  steel  mills 
are  another  industry  from  which  the  recent  immigrants  are 
popularly  believed  to  have  forced  out  the  native  workmen  and 
older  English-speaking  immigrants.  The  fact  is,  that  in  the 
earlier  period  of  the  industry,  when  immigration  from  southern 
and  eastern  Europe  was  negligible,  the  number  of  American 
employees  increased  very  slowly;  during  the  recent  period,  on 
the  contrary,  since  the  immigrants  from  southern  and  eastern 
Europe  have  been  coming  in  large  numbers,  the  number  of 
American-born  employees  of  every  nativity  has  more  than 
doubled.  The  increased  employment  of  native  Americans  is 
recorded  in  the  figures  for  every  important  iron-  and  steel- 
producing  state,  as  well  as  for  every  city  holding  a' leading  place 
in  the  iron  and  steel  industry. 

The  effect  of  immigration  upon  the  occupational  distribution 
of  the  industrial  wage-earners  has  been  the  elevation  of  the 
English-speaking  workmen  to  the  status  of  an  aristocracy  of 
labor,  while  the  immigrants  have  been  employed  to  perform  the 
rough  work  of  all  industries.  Though  the  introduction  of  ma- 
chinery has  had  the  tendency  to  reduce  the  relative  number  of 
skilled  mechanics,  yet  the  rapid  pace  of  industrial  expansion  has 
increased  the  number  of  skilled  and  supervisory  positions  so  fast 
that  practically  all  the  English-speaking  employees  have  had  the 
opportunity  to  rise  on  the  scale  of  occupations.  This  oppor- 
tunity, however,  was  conditioned  upon  a  corresponding  increase 
of  the  total  operating  force.  It  is  only  because  the  new  immigra- 
tion has  furnished  the  class  of  unskilled  laborers  that  the  native 


194  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

workmen  and  older'  immigrants  have  been  raised  to  the  plane  of 
an  aristocracy  of  labor. 

Yet,  while  the  number  of  native  American  workmen  in  all 
industries  has  increased,  it  is  true  that  in  some  occupations 
there  has  been  an  actual  decrease  of  the  number  of  English, 
Welsh,  Irish,  and  German  workers,  which  has  been  construed  as 
"displacement"  of  Americanized  workers  by  immigrants  from 
southern  and  eastern  Europe  with  a  lower  standard  of  living. 
This  interpretation  overlooks  the  fact  that  native  workers  of 
native  parentage,  presumably  with  as  high  a  standard  of  living 
as  the  Irish,  are  found  in  the  same  occupations  in  larger  num- 
bers than  formerly.  Another  fact  that  contradicts  the  popular 
view  is  the  increase  of  the  number  of  Scotch  immigrants  in 
those  very  occupations  which  show  a  decline  in  the  number  of 
English  and  Irish.  Judged  by  any  standard,  the  Scotch  are  not 
inferior  to  other  immigrants  from  the  United  Kingdom.  The 
increased  employment  of  the  Scotch  in  the  principal  occupations, 
including  even  common  laborers,  warrants  the  conclusion  that 
the  decline  in  the  numbers  of  English  and  Irish  must  have  been 
due  to  other  causes  than  the  competition  of  recent  immigrants 
with  lower  standards  of  living.  A  further  fact  that  must  be 
considered  in  this  connection  is  that  the  English,  Welsh,  and 
Irish  farmers  exhibit  a  greater  decrease,  both  absolute  and  rela- 
tive, than  any  other  occupational  group  among  the  same  nation- 
alities. Evidently  no  new  farmers  came  to  fill  the  places  of  their 
countrymen  who  were  carried  off  by  death,  although  the  aliens 
from  southern  and  eastern  Europe  kept  away  from  the  farming 
sections  and  left  the  field  open  for  English,  Welsh,  and  Irish 
immigrants. 

The  real  explanation  of  the  decrease  in  the  number  of  immi- 
grants from  northern  and  western  Europe  in  the  occupations 
which  rank  lowest  in  the  social  scale  is  that  the  earlier  immi- 
grants have  worked  their  way  upward.  Among  the  breadwinners 
born  in  northern  and  western  Europe,  farmers,  business  men, 
professional  men,  and  skilled  mechanics  outnumber  those  who  are 
employed  in  the  coarser  grades  of  labor.  The  latter  have  been 
left  to  immigrants  from  southern  and  eastern  Europe. 

But  it  is  argued  that  the  newly  arrived  immigrant  must  have 
work  at  once  and  is  therefore  glad  to  accept  any  terms.  The 
Immigration  Commission  after  a  study  of  the  earnings  of  more 
than  half  a  million  employees  in  mines  and  manufactures,  has 


ON   IMMIGRATION  195 

discovered  no  evidence  that  immigrants  have  been  hired  for  less 
than  the  prevailing  rates  of  wages. 

The  primary  cause  which  has  determined  the  movement  of 
wages  in  the  United  States  during  the  past  thirty  years  has 
been  the  introduction  of  labor-saving  machinery.  The  effect  of 
the  substitution  of  mechanical  devices  for  human  skill  is  the 
displacement  of  the  skilled  mechanic  by  the  unskilled  laborer. 
This  tendency  has  been  counteracted  in  the  United  States  by 
the  expansion  of  industry:  while  the  ratio  of  skilled  mechanics 
to  the  total  operating  force  was  decreasing,  the  increasing  scale 
of  operations  prevented  an  actual  reduction  in  numbers.  Of 
course  this  adjustment  did  not  proceed  without  friction.  While, 
in  the  long  run,  there  has  been  no  displacement  of  skilled 
mechanics  by  unskilled  laborers  in  the  industrial  field  as  a  whole, 
yet  at  certain  times  and  places  individual  skilled  mechanics  were 
doubtless  dispensed  with  and  had  to  seek  new  employment.  The 
unskilled  laborers  who  replaced  them  were  naturally  engaged  at 
lower  wages.  The  fact  that  most  of  these  unskilled  laborers 
were  immigrants  disguised  the  substance  of  the  change — the  sub- 
stitution of  unskilled  for  skilled  labor — and  made  it  appear  as 
the  displacement  of  highly-paid  native  by  cheap  immigrant  labor. 

To  prove  that  immigration  has  virtually  lowered  the  rates 
of  wages,  would  require  a  comparative  study  of  wages  paid  for 
the  same  class  of  labor  in  various  occupations  before  and  after 
the  great  influx  of  immigration.  This,  however,  has  never  been 
attempted  by  the  advocates  of  restriction.  In  fact,  the  chaotic 
state  of  our  wage  statistics  precludes  any  but  a  fragmentary 
comparison  for  different  periods.  In  a  general  way,  however,  all 
available  data  for  the  period  of  "the  old  immigration"  agree  in 
that  the  wages  of  unskilled  laborers,  and  even  of  some  of  the 
skilled  mechanics,  did  not  fully  provide  for  the  support  of  the 
wage-earner  and  his  family  in  accordance  with  their  usual  stand- 
ards of  living.  The  shortage  had  to  be  made  up  by  the  labor 
of  the  wife  and  children. 

If  the  tendency  of  the  new  immigration  were  to  lower  the 
rate  of  wages  or  to  retard  the  advance  of  wages,  it  should  be 
expected  that  wages  would  be  lower  in  great  cities  where  the 
recent  immigrants  are  concentrated,  than  in  rural  districts  where 
the  population  is  mostly  of  native  birth.  All  wage  statistics, 
concur,  however,  in  the  opposite  conclusion.  Since  the  United 
States  has  become  a  manufacturing  country  average  earnings  per 
13 


196  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

worker  have  been  higher  in  the  cities  than  in  the  country.  The 
same  difference  exists  within  the  same  trades  between  the  large 
and  the  small  cities.  Country  competition  of  native  Americans 
often  acts  as  a  depressing  factor  upon  the  wages  of  recent 
immigrants.  This  fact  has  been  demonstrated  in  the  clothing 
industry,  in  the  cotton  mills,  in  the  coal  mines,  etc. 

Furthermore,  if  immigration  tends  to  depress  wages,  this 
tendency  must  manifest  itself  in  lower  average  earnings  in 
states  with  a  large  immigrant  population  than  in  states  with  a 
predominant  native  population.  No  such  tendency,  however,  is 
discernible  from  wage  statistics.  As  a  rule,  annual  earnings  are 
higher  in  states  with  a  higher  percentage  of  foreign-born 
workers. 

The  conditions  in  some  of  the  leading  industries  employing 
large  numbers  of  recent  immigrants  point  to  the  same  conclu- 
sions. In  the  Pittsburgh  steel  mills  the  rates  of  wages  of  various 
grades  of  employees  have  varied  directly  with  the  proportion  of 
recent  immigrants.  The  wages  of  the  aristocrats  of  labor,  none 
of  whom  are  southern  or  eastern  Europeans,  have  been  reduced 
in  some  cases  as  much  as  40  per  cent;  the  money  wages  of  the 
skilled  and  semi-skilled  workers,  two-thirds  of  whom  are  natives 
or  old  immigrants,  have  not  advanced  notwithstanding  the  in- 
creased cost  of  living1,  while  the  wages  of  the  unskilled  laborers, 
the  bulk  of  whom  are  immigrants  from  southern  and  eastern 
Europe,  have  been  going  up. 

Another  typical  immigrant  industry  is  the  manufacture  of 
clothing.  The  clothing  industry  has  become  associated  in  the 
public  mind  with  the  sweating  system,  and  since  the  employees 
are,  with  few  exceptions,  immigrants  from  southern  and  eastern 
Europe,  the  conclusion  is  readily  reached  that  the  root  of  the 
sweating  system  is  in  the  character  of  the  new  immigration. 
Yet  the  origin  of  the  sweating  system  preceded  the  Jewish  cloth- 
ing workers  by  more  than  half  a  century.  Throughout  the 
second  quarter  of  the  past  century  native  American  and  Irish 
women  worked  in  the  sweat  shops  of  New  York,  Boston,  and 
Philadelphia  for  only  board  and  lodging,  or  even  for  board  alone, 
depending  upon  their  families  for  other  necessities,  whereas  the 
Jewish  factory  girls  of  the  present  day  are  at  least  self- 
supporting. 

In  the  cotton  mills  of  New  England  the  last  quarter  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  when  the  operatives  were  practically  all  of 


ON   IMMIGRATION  197 

the  English-speaking  races,  was  a  period  of  intermittent  advances 
and  reductions  in  wages ;  on  the  whole,  wages  remained  station- 
ary. The  first  years  of  the  present  century,  up  to  the  crisis  of 
1908,  were  marked  by  the  advent  of  the  southern  and  eastern 
Europeans  into  the  cotton  mills,  and  by  an  uninterrupted  upward* 
movement  of  wages.  The  competition  of  the  cheap  American 
labor  of  the  Southern  cotton  mills,  however,  tends  to  keep  down 
the  wages  of  the  southern  and  eastern  European,  Armenian,  and 
Syrian  immigrants  employed  in  the  New  England  mills. 

As  a  general  rule,  the  employment  of  large  numbers  of  recent 
immigrants  has  gone  together  with  substantial  advances  in  wages. 
This  correlation  between  the  movements  of  wages  and  immigra- 
tion is  not  the  manifestation  of  some  mysterious  racial  trait,  but 
the  plain  working  of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand.  The  employ- 
ment of  a  high  percentage  of  immigrants  in  any  section,  industry, 
or  occupation,  is  an  indication  of  an  active  demand  for  labor  in 
excess  of  the  native  supply.  Absence  of  immigrants  is  a  sign 
of  a  dull  labor  market. 


National  Conference  for  Good  City  Government.     109:  142-7 
Effect  of  Immigration  on  Municipal  Politics.    William  S.  Bennet 

Properly,  I  presume,  the  subject  of  this  paper  ought  to  be  the 
narrower  one  "the  effect  of  recent  immigration  on  elections  in 
large  cities,"  as  I  intend  confining  myself  as  strictly  as  the 
subject  permits,  to  that  field. 

The  effort  to  measure  the  effect  of  a  particular  class  on  so 
complex  a  question  as  that  of  the  usual  election  in  a  large  city, 
largely  and  naturally  fails,  through  the  fact  that  a  class,  large 
enough  in  itself  to  definitely  influence  an  election  result,  is  itself 
subject  to  so  many  differing  exterior  and  contending  influences 
that  it  is  practically  impossible  ever  to  say  didactically :  this  thing 
these  particular  people  of  themselves  did  because  of  themselves. 
I  think  we  are  Beginning,  too,  to  realize  more  and  more  the 
futility  of  attempting  to  say  of  any  foreign  people  among  us,  that 
as  a  class  they  are  wholly  bad  or  wholly  worthy,  but  to  incline 
to  judge  them  not  as  of  a  particular  race  or  people,  but  as  indi- 
viduals, each  with  a  separate  responsibility.  Nevertheless,  there 
are  two  great  elementary  questions  as  to  recent  immigrants  that 
persist,  that  are  legitimate,  and  that  to  an  appreciable  extent  can 
be  answered  : 


198  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

First  —  How  is  our  country  preparing  its  city  election  machin- 
ery in  relation  to  the  present  immigration?  and 

Second  —  How  are  our  more  recent  immigrants  adapting  them- 
selves to  and  availing  themselves  of  our  election  situations  as 
they  find  them? 

The  first  is  rarely  asked,  but  is  more  important.  Those  who 
have  read  Mr.  Steiner's  description  of  the  gang  of  newly-arrived 
aliens  led  to  illegally  to  vote  by  the  working  boss,  recall  his 
simple  and  vivid  delineation  of  the  contempt  of  our  institutions 
instilled  by  that  wrongful  act.  Much  of  our  trouble  in  the  past 
has  sprung  from  the  belief  amongst  newly-made  citizens,  justified 
by  far  too  much  evidence,  that  we  ourselves  have  regarded  elec- 
tions as  contentions  to  be  decided  not  at  all  by  argument,  per- 
suasion or  reason,  but  by  trickery,  treachery,  bribery,  perjury, 
assault,  forgery,  deceit  and  even  murder.  It  is  not  difficult  to 
recall  how  recently  the  ordinary  election  was  accompanied  invari- 
ably by  drunkenness  and  usually  by  riot  ;  the  partisan  boards,  in 
New  York  state  at  least;  the  polling  places,  practically  in  places 
where  liquor  was  sold  and  the  open,  shameless  buying  and  selling 
of  votes.  The  new  and  impressionable  citizen  of  even  but  twenty 
years  ago  had  held  out  to  him  at  election  inducements  to  all  that 
was  worst  in  his  character.  If  he  held  our  elections  and  insti- 
tutions lightly,  we  had  ourselves  to  blame  for  it.  Along  the  lines 
of  better  elections  we  have  improved  immensely.  In  our  great 
city  the  election  boards  are  bi-partisan.  The  secret  ballot  has 
made  the  buying  of  votes  precarious  merchandising;  no  polling 

place  ;  public  sentiment  frowns  on 


election-law  violation;  the  average  citizen  resents  electioneering,. 
particularly  on  election  day  and  near  the  polls;  the  workers 
therefore  are  fewer,  there  is  rarely  disorder  and  the  day  is 
relatively  as  peaceful  as  a  Sunday.  This  is  as  it  should  be,  the 
responsibilty  of  the  election,  great  on  every  individual,  should 
be  exercised  amid  surroundings  which  are  at  least  respectable, 
serious  and  dignified. 

The  second  question  is  partly  answered  by  the  answer  to  the 
first.  Man  moves  much  along  lines  of  the  least  resistance,  and 
the  stranger  adapts  himself  to  conditions  as  he  finds  them.  Make 
your  elections  riotous  and  corrupt  and  your  new-made,  foreign- 
born  citizen  riots  and  sells  his  vote  with  the  native  born  ;  make 
the  election  day  what  it  should  be,  the  rigidly  guarded  place  of 
the  legal  and  formal  expression  of  opinions  formed  on  delibera.- 


ON  IMMIGRATION  199 

tion  elsewhere,  and  you  train  your  new  citizen  to  thought  and 
reason.  Our  most  recent  citizens  of  foreign  birth  are,  in  great 
cities,  our  most  independent  voters.  This  is  quite  natural.  Many 
of  us  inherit  both  our  politics  and  our  religion.  A  very  keen  rep- 
resentative in  Congress  said  to  me  recently,  that  when  a  man  in 
his  district  deserted  his  father's  politics  or  his  mother's  religion, 
it  was  regarded  as  the  first  sign  of  insanity  and  that  actually 
it  frequently  was.  We  have  been  trained  also  in  partisanship 
through  great  discussions  on  real  issues  of  the  past.  We  may 
not  entirely  approve  our  own  party  in  every  detail,  but  we  have 
a  thorough  conviction  based  on  by-gone  days  that  there  is  much 
that  is  worse  in  the  other — this  whether  we  are  Democrats  or 
Republicans. 

The  new  citizen  has  neither  political  inheritance,  prejudice  nor 
scars  of  conflict.  He  votes  always  in  the  present,  sometimes  for 
the  future,  but  never  in  the  past.  Being  poor,  it  is  quite  true  that 
when  there  is  corruption,  he  is  among  those  approached.  Being 
ambitious,  the  lure  of  minor  place  sometimes  weighs  with  him 
more  than  principle.  But  in  the  main  he  thinks.  By  our  own 
progress  we  have  done  more  for  him  than  he  will  ever  know. 
We  have  taught  him  that  elections  are  properly  approached 
through  thought,  and  by  making  them  fair,  we  are  teaching  him 
that  thought  and  the  expression  of  it  are  the  most  valuable  pos- 
sessions of  the  elector.  The  thinking  voter  necessitates  the  fit,  or 
at  least  acceptable,  candidate.  Our  recent  New  York  City  elec- 
tion gives  us  room  for  thoughtful  study  of  the  new  citizen.  In 
connection  with  this,  it  should  be  carefully  borne  in  mind  that 
in  no  great  city  is  the  naturalized  voter  a  newly-arrived  immi- 
grant. Four  or  five  of  our  states  still  permit  aliens  to  vote,  some 
immediately  on  filing  declarations  of  intention,  some  on  as  short 
residence  as  six  months,  but  none  of  these  states  contain  one  of 
our  largest  cities.  In  cities,  then,  the  newly-made  voter  is  a 
resident  in  this  country,  certainly  for  five  and  usually  for  more 
years,  before  he  votes  even  for  the  first  time.  Candidates  in 
foreign-speaking  localities  frequently  address  audiences,  the  ma- 
jority of  whom  either  by  age  or  alienage  are  unable  to  vote. 
This  has  a  distinct  educational  value  for  the  future  but  advances 
a  present  election  very  little. 

The  644,000  electors  who  had  the  right  to  participate  in  our 
recent  election  were,  thus,  either  native  born  or  having  five  years 
or  more  residence.  Of  the  644,000  who  registered  about  590,000 


200  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

voted.  These  divided  their  votes  roughly  as  follows :  Gaynor, 
Tammany  and  Democrat,  250,000;  Bannard,  Republican  and 
Fusion,  175,000;  tJearst,  150,000.  Four  years  ago  the  vote  was 
Tammany  226,000,  Hearst  224,000,  Republican  137,000.  There- 
fore this  year  both  the  Tammany  and  Republican  candidates 
gained  at  the  expense  of  Hearst.  The  exact  significance  of  this 
is  immaterial  and  accounted  for  readily  by  a  variety  of  causes. 
The  important  fact  remains,  that  150,000  voters,  without  par- 
ticular leadership  or  organization,  left  party  ranks  and  voted  for 
an  individual  of  their  choice. 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.    33:373-9.    March,  1909 

Influence  of  Immigration  on  Agricultural  Development. 
John    Lee    Coulter 

It  is  not  enough  to  encourage  one  class  of  immigrants  and 
discourage  or  prohibit  others.  The  immigrants  must  not  only 
come  from  rural  districts  in  their  mother  country;  if  they  are  to 
succeed,  they  must  be  properly  located  here.  Probably  the  most 
important  single  condition  is  that  immigrants  should  be  directed 
toward  and  urged  to  locate  where  their  physical  environment 
will  correspond  as  nearly  as  may  be  to  that  of  their  mother 
country.  By  that  I  mean  that  not  only  should  the  climate  be 
nearly  the  same,  but  the  precipitation,  the  soils  and  the  topog- 
raphy should  approach  that  of  their  former  home,  if  possible. 
Failure  to  satisfy  these  preliminary  requirements  has  resulted 
in  almost  complete  failure  or  a  long  period  of  suffering, 
while  attention  to  these  factors  has-  produced  unpredicted 
successes. 

The  next  consideration  of  singular  importance  is  that  the 
social  environment  should  be  acceptable.  If  the  agricultural 
operations  are  not  close  to  a  city  where  others  of  the  same 
nationality  are  employed  in  other  industries,  it  is  desirable — 
almost  necessary — that  a  considerable  number  be  allowed,  even 
induced,  if  need  be,  to  settle  in  a  community.  At  first,  they  will 
live  as  a  world  apart,  but  they  give  off  ideas  and  take  on  others 
and  at  the  end  of  a  generation  or  two  a  few  intermarriages  will 
have  broken  down  the  hard  and  fast  wall  between  settlements. 
Common  markets,  interchange  of  labor  supply,  contests  between 
settlements,  political  and  other  conflicts,  and  back  of  it  all  the 


ON   IMMIGRATION  201 

common  school  system,  soon  result  in  an  amalgamated,  assimi- 
lated race. 

The  next  consideration  which  should  be  held  in  mind  in  deter- 
mining upon  the  distribution  of  immigrants  among  the  different 
branches  of  the  agricultural  industry  is  the  economic  status  of 
the  people  to  be  distributed  and  their  plans  or  ambitions  for  the 
future.  Thus,  some  are  independent  laborers,  others  ready  to 
become  tenants  and  still  others  to  be  land  owners.  Some  plan 
to  be  employees  as  long  as  they  stay;  some  of  these  would  plan 
to  save  a  snug  fortune  in  a  few  years  and  return  to  the  mother 
country,  others  to  earn  and  use  the  returns  from  year  to  year. 
Some  plan  to  step  up  to  the  position  of  tenant  and  employer, 
others  are  ready  to  enter  that  state  at  once,  borne  are  ready  to 
become  land  owners  and  independent  farmers  by  purchase  of 
land  in  settled  districts,  others  with  less  capital  would  go  to  the 
frontier  with  poorer  markets  and  grow  up  with  the  country, 
enduring  hardships  but  accumulating  wealth.  There  is  room  for 
all  of  these  classes  of  people  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  country. 

The  large  Swiss  settlement  in  Green  County,  Wisconsin,  illus- 
trates success  in  the  introduction  of  a  new  sub-industry  of  great 
importance.  Having  struggled  for  years  trying  to  farm  in  the 
American  way,  these  immigrants  finally  turned  to  the  great  indus- 
try of  their  home  country.  They  had  settled  in  a  physical 
environment  which  was  very  much  like  what  they  left  abroad. 
Now  several  hundred  cheese  factories  are  prospering  and  millions 
of  pounds  of  cheese  are  annually  placed  upon  our  markets.  A 
study  of  that  particular  case  shows  that  about  99  per  cent  of  the 
cheese  made  is  of  fancy  or  foreign  varieties.  Most  of  it  is  the 
famous  Swiss  cheese.  It  should  also  be  noted  that  nearly  all  of 
those  engaged  in  making  this  cheese  and  in  buying  and  selling  it 
are  Swiss  or  of  Swiss  origin.  The  writer  feels  that  this  colony 
is  a  great  success,  is  the  kind  of  thing  this  country  wants,  is  the 
basis  of  prosperity  in  our  agriculture  and  must  not  be  condemned 
because  of  the  fact  that  broad  Swiss  is  sometimes  spoken  or 
because  the  thousands  of  members  of  the  district  are  not  assimi- 
lated -during  the  first  generation.  The  writer  has  found  indi- 
viduals and  small  groups  of  settlers  from  this  colony  and  from 
"the  old  country"  moving  far  up  into  the  Northwest  carrying 
with  them  the  information  and  ambition  to  start  other  colonies 
as  prosperous  as  the  old  one.  The  acquisition  of  such  an 
industry  is  as  valuable  to  this  country  as  the  introduction  of  a 


202  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

new  plant  that  may  have  required  the  expenditure  of  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars. 

Turning  from  this  prosperous  Swiss  district,  we  may  direct 
our  attention  to  a  Bohemian  center  in  northwestern  Minnesota. 
The  Swiss  had  sent  explorers  ahead  to  find  a  desirable  location 
before  coming  to  this  country  and  settling  down.  The  Bohemians 
were  in  no  greater  financial  straits  in  their  home  country  than 
the  Swiss  had  been,  but  they  were  brought  in  and  located  by 
great  transportation  companies.  The  soil  where  the  Bohemians 
were  "dumped"  is  very  good ;  precipitation  and  topography  are 
good;  but  the  country  needs  an  expensive  drainage  system.  The 
poor  immigrants  are  not  in  a  position  to  establish  it.  The  result 
is  that  for  some  fifteen  years  we  have  had  before  our  eyes  a 
Bohemian  colony  numbering  hundreds  of  people,  unable  to  estab- 
lish a  prosperous  community  because  of  unfavorable  natural 
conditions.  These  people  are  efficient  and  willing.  The  state 
was  at  fault  in  allowing  the  mistake  to  take  place,  and  it  con- 
tinues open  to  blame  for  not  taking  more  active  steps  toward 
improvement.  In  passing  from  house  to  house  in  that  district, 
an  interpreter  was  often  necessary,  but  not  because  the  people  did 
not  wish  to  learn  the  English.  Each  year  sees  the  children 
mingling  more  with  the  outside  neighborhood  and  learning  our 
language,  customs  and  laws.  These  people  will  succeed  in  time, 
despite  obstacles,  but  some  common-sense  assistance  would  hasten 
the  day  of  their  prosperity. 

In  other  parts  of  the  United  States  large  settlements  of  Bohe- 
mians of  no  higher  standard  are  prosperous  and  happy.  As  an 
illustration  of  the  status  that  should  obtain  the  writer  would 
refer  to  some  of  the  very  prosperous  communities  of  Poles  and 
Icelanders  in  North  Dakota  and  elsewhere.  No  class  of  citizens, 
whether  immigrants  or  descended  from  immigrants  half  a  dozen 
steps  removed,  could  ask  for  greater  material  progress,  better 
buildings — homes,  churches,  schools  and  town  buildings — than  the 
Polish  settlement  around  Warsaw,  Poland,  Minto,  and  Ardock 
in  Walsh  County,  North  Dakota.  The  writer's  knowledge  of 
this  and  other  communties  of  like  character  leads  him  to  say 
that  to  encourage  such  settlements  is  to  foster  prosperity  and 
frugality  as  well  as  to  place  the  stamp  of  approval  upon  a  home- 
loving,  land-loving  class  of  farmers.  If  we  pass  on  to  settle- 
ments of  Russians  we  may  say  nearly  the  same  as  above.  With 
a  love  for  land  and  home  which  is  almost  beyond  our  under- 


ON   IMMIGRATION  203 

standing,  these  people  are  too  often  frugal  to  a  fault.  They  come 
with  a  low  standard  of  living  and  during  the  first  generation  the 
standard  does  not  rise  much.  But  the  change  soon  comes.  The 
children,  or  at  least  the  grandchildren,  become  thoroughly  Amer- 
ican unless  the  immigrants  have  been  located  in  an  environment 
where  success  is  impossible.  In  this  connection  we  might  refer 
to  such  concrete  cases  as  the  settlements  in  central  and  western 
North  Dakota,  or  the  large  prosperous  colony  in  Ellis  County, 
Kansas,  or  the  newer  settlement  in  the  Southwest. 

Nor  need  we  stop  with  the  Swiss,  Bohemians,  Polanders,  Ice- 
landers and  Russians.  If  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  Italians 
coming  into  the  South  we  find  them  filling  the  various  places 
demanding  attention.  There  is  a  large  demand  for  white  labor, 
and  the  mass  of  Italians  who  do  not  intend  to  make  this  their 
life  home  more  and  more  fill  a  long-felt  need.  With  the  great 
numbers  of  Mexicans  coming  across  the  line  for  part  of  a 
season  this  demand  may  gradually  be  better  and  better  satisfied. 
There  is  also  a  large  demand  for  tenants,  and  this  cry  is  being 
answered  by  Italians.  These  newcomers  are  not  only  fitting  into 
the  cotton-growing  industry  in  competition  with  the  colored 
people,  but  are  proving  their  efficiency  in  vegetable  and  fruit 
farming.  Of  late  years  such  settlements  as  that  of  Italians  at 
Tontitown,  Arkansas,  in  the  Ozark  Mountains,  show  also  that 
the  Italians  can  bring  their  home  industry  with  them  and  succeed 
here.  They  not  only  settle  down  as  dignified  farmers,  but  actu- 
ally teach  our  farmers  many  things.  Vegetables,  apples,  plums, 
grapes  and  other  fruits  are  successfully  grown.  If  the  colony 
located  at  Sunnyside,  Arkansas,  at  an  earlier  date  was  a  failure 
at  first,  it  is  no  sign  that  Italians  cannot  succeed  in  agriculture. 
Immigrants,  largely  from  other  industries,  placed  in  competition 
with  negroes  in  production  of  a  crop  that  they  knew  absolutely 
nothing  about,  under  foremen  accustomed  to  drive  slaves,  in  a 
swamp  country — hot  and  sickly  to  newcomers — attacked  by 
malarial  fever  and  losing  a  large  number  of  the  first  settlers, 
it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  failure  was  threatened.  But 
success  has  come  even  in  that  case,  where  failure  at  first  stared 
all  in  the  face. 

With  colonies  like  the  Brandsville  Swiss  settlement  in  Mis- 
souri, with  the  Italians  and  Russians  coming  even  into  old  New 
England,  with  Mexicans  pushing  up  into  the  Southwest,  and 
with  other  nationalities  gradually  finding  their  own,  we  may 


204  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

indeed  turn  our  attention  toward  the  agricultural  industry  as  a 
much  neglected  field.  The  cry  of  "back  to  the  land"  will  not  go 
unheeded  by  immigrants  who  have  come  from  farms  in  their 
mother  country  if  any  reasonable  amount  of  effort  is  put  forth 
to  "assist  them  to  find  themselves." 


Review  of  Reviews.     49:342-5.     March,  1914 

Our  Recent  Immigrants  as  Farmers.    Lajos  Steiner 

Most  of  our  recent  immigrants  were  tillers  of  the  soil  in  their 
native  countries.  They  are  good  farmers.  The  soil  which  they 
farmed  in  Europe  has  been  under  cultivation  for  over  a  thousand 
years  and  is  still  fertile  and  productive.  These  new  residents 
are  land-hungry,  and  save  all  that  can  be  saved  out  of  their  wages 
for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  land.  The  ambition  of  our  peasant 
immigrants  is  to  save  enough  by  industrial  wage-earning  to 
enable  them  to  buy  land.  They  consider  the  status  of  the 
owner  of  a  farm — even  of  a  very  small  farm — far  above  that  of 
the  industrial  employee.  The  social  and  financial  status  of  a 
farm-owner  is  deemed  to  be  the  most  desirable  one,  excepting 
probably  that  of  the  owner  of  a  saloon.  All  their  present  hard- 
ships are  forgotten  for  this  cause,  all  their  energies  are  expended 
for  this  end,  all  their  visions  of  happiness  in  old  age  are  pictures 
of  the  yearned-for  farm. 

Besides  the  "immigrant  bankers,"  who  stimulate  the  exporta- 
tion of  the  immigrant's  savings  and  the  re-migration  of  the  immi- 
grant himself,  the  agents  of  certain  foreign  governments,  financial 
institutions,  agricultural  concerns,  and  a  large  number  of  other 
parties  cooperate  in  keeping  our  peasant  immigrants  in  ignorance 
of  American  opportunities.  This  very  ignorance  is  the  source  of 
the  income  of  many  employment  offices,  unscrupulous  lawyers, 
politicians,  notaries  public,  large  numbers  of  foreign-language 
newspapers,  certain  town-lot  sharks,  speculators  in  land  and 
foodstuffs,  and  an  army  of  other  auxiliaries.  They  all  live  on 
the  inexperienced  and  credulous  immigrant.  The  masses  of 
peasant  immigrants  are,  practically,  kept  from  learning1  about 
American  institutions,  methods,  and  ideals.  Agricultural  oppor- 
tunities in  the  United  States  of  which  these  types  of  settlers 
might  avail  themselves  are  secrets  for  them,  sealed  with  seven 
seals.  They  desire'  to  discontinue  industrial  employment  as  soon 


ON  IMMIGRATION  205 

as  possible  and  .reengage  in  agriculture  on  land  of  their  own. 
Knowing  nothing  of  farming  in  this  country,  they  are  easily 
influenced  by  the  exploiters,  and  are  induced  to  re-migrate  to 
Europe  when  they  have  saved  enough  money  to  buy  a  little  land. 
In  a  great  many  instances  total  and  irreparable  ruin  is  the  result 
of  such  re-migration. 

Great  numbers  of  re-migrants  lose  all,  or  the  greater  part, 
of  their  savings  in  their  native  lands,  and  they  find  themselves 
farther  away  from  the  yearned-for  farm  than  ever.  The  lot  of 
such  people  is  exceedingly  distressing.  Is  there  relief  in  sight? 
Up  to  the  present  time  our  peasant  immigrants  have  had  no 
choice ;  their  exploitation  gave  immense  profits  to  the  exploiters. 
The  latter  are  numerous,  omnipresent,  influential;  they  have 
political  "pull"  and  connections,  and  are  unmolested  in  their 
practices.  About  40  per  cent  of  our  peasant  immigrants  re- 
migrate  ;  they  export  perhaps  $300,000,000  each  normal  year. 
During  industrial  depressions  or  panics  these  figures  become 
larger.  Re-migration  and  the  influx  of  the  savings  have  made 
bad  conditions  only  worse  in  the  respective  European  countries. 
Available  land  is  insufficient  over  there  and  prices  are  driven 
up  to  yet  more  unreasonable  heights.  Lands  which  were  sold 
abroad  some  twenty  years  ago  for  about  $40  an  acre  are  now 
purchased  by  re-migrants  for  $500  an  acre,  and  even  more. 

It  seems  to  be  urgently  necessary  to  inaugurate  a  compre- 
hensive economic  policy  for  the  utilization  of  our  idle  agricul- 
tural land.  During  six  years  6,230,257  immigrants  arrived,  and 
2,652,250  departed.  During  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1913, 
the  Bureau  of  Immigration  reports  a  total  of  611,924  departed. 
This  is  over  40  per  cent  of  all  arrivals,  the  number  of  the  latter 
being  1,427,227.  The  thrifty  among  our  peasant  immigrants  re- 
migrate  to  Europe,  although  farm  land  is  more  abundant  and 
cheaper  here.  They,  unfortunately,  do  not  know  this  to  be  so. 
If  we  kept  them,  they  would  materially  aid  in  producing  food- 
stuffs and  therewith  reduce  our  high  cost  of  living.  What  a 
change  for  the  better  it  would  be  if  these  land-hungry,  useful 
people  would  invest  their  savings  in  our  farming,  make  our 
millions  of  idle  acres  bear  and  grow  farm  produce,  create 
wealth,  and  contribute  to  public  resources !  On  farms  the  Ameri- 
canization of  this  sturdy,  healthy  people  would  follow  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course, — their  descendants  would  become  as  patriotic  and 
loyal  citizens  of  the  United  States  as  the  descendants  of  the 


206  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

earlier  arrivals.  None  of  our  other  industries  would  be  harmed, 
— only  those  would  leave  industrial  occupations  who  do  so  at  the 
present  time.  The  change  for  the  better  would  be  called  forth 
by  having  the  funds  now  exported,  and  their  departing  owners, 
engage  in  farming  in  this  country.  These  new  agricultural  set- 
tlements would  furnish  opportunities  to  tradesmen,  merchants, 
banks,  hotels,  druggists,  physicians,  and  a  multitude  of  others 
to  thrive  by  living  and  transacting  business  amongst  them. 

The  beauties  of  farm  life  need  not  be  preached  to  the  peasant 
immigrant.  He  does  not  have  to  be  urged.  He  has  not  to  be 
taught  farming.  He  does  not  need  financial  aid.  From  the  first 
day  he  landed  he  has  been  saving  with  the  sole  view  of  becoming 
a  farm  owner.  Our  resident  peasant  immigrants  have  the  desire, 
the  ability,  and  the  cash  funds.  All  they  need  is  a  friendly  hand 
to  guide  them  aright.  Unfortunately,  while  there  are  many 
influences  at  work  to  make  them  export  their  savings  and  to 
have  them  re-migrate,  not  enough  is  being  done  to  counteract 
these  influences. 

A  national  organization  is  needed.  It  should  be  formed  by 
public-spirited  men  and  women.  The  cooperation  of  our  federal 
and  state  governments  should  be  secured,  and  of  those  social, 
educational,  and  religious  factors  in  the  environment  which  are 
in  a  position  to  cooperate.  The  objects  of  this  organization 
should  be  the  encouragement,  assistance,  and  direction  of  quali- 
fied residents  to  purchase  and  cultivate  farms  in  the  United 
States,  instead  of  emigrating  to  foreign  countries  to  engage  there 
in  agriculture. 

The  scope  of  work  of  this  organization  should  include  the 
preparation  of  a  survey  of  available  farm  lands,  data  of  the 
precise  location,  climate,  quality  of  soil,  size  of  farm,  price, 
terms,  title,  improvements,  building  material,  transportation 
facilities,  roads,  crops,  markets,  churches,  schools,  etc. 

This  information  should  be  published  in  various  languages 
and  disseminated  among  the  people  who  would  be  benefited  by  it. 

Local  committees  should  be  formed  to  look  after  the  welfare 
of  the  new  settlers,  to  prevent  their  exploitation  and  to  make 
it  possible  for  them  to  thrive.  Instructors  should  visit  and 
advise  the  new  settlers  of  the  methods  of  production  so  that 
they  may  succeed  on  American  soil  with  American  methods. 
Each  county  should  maintain  a  demonstration  farm  and  teach 
scientific  farming  and  the  use  of  farm  machinery.  On  the  other 


ON  IMMIGRATION  207 

hand,  settlers  with  their  European  training  would  furnish  object- 
lessons  in  the  rotation  of  crops,  in  intensive  farming  methods, 
the  preservation  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  such  other 
procedure  as  may  prove  worthy  of  adoption. 

Propaganda  for  farming  in  the  United  States  should  be  made. 
Meetings  and  lectures  should  be  arranged  for  prospective  set- 
tlers. Trustworthy  and  detailed  information  of  available  agri- 
cultural opportunities  should  be  disseminated  in  the  respective 
languages  by  pamphlets,  circulars,  views,  maps,  pocket  geog- 
raphies, histories,  and  articles  in  those  newspapers  which  are 
read  by  the  immigrants. 

This  organization  should  assist  in  the  selection  of  the  locality 
and  the  farm,  in  the  arrangement  of  the  terms  of  purchase,  in 
securing  clear  title,  in  obtaining  seed,  stock,  and  implements. 
The  new  settlers  should  be  located  according  to  race  in  groups 
and  with  special  care  regarding  their  agricultural  training.  The 
marketing  of  their  crops,  the  establishment  of  creameries,  co- 
operative laundries,  agricultural  credit  systems,  farmers'  associ- 
ations, and  the  improvement  of  rural  life  in  general  should  be 
facilitated. 

The  example  of  the  successful  pioneers  would  attract  follow- 
ers in  ever-increasing  numbers  and  counteract  the  influence  of 
the  immigrant  bankers  and  the  other  exploiters. 

At  the  time  of  our  high  cost  of  living1,  of  the  tide  from  the 
farms  to  the  cities,  of  social  unrest,  and  agricultural  decadence, 
so  valuable  an  asset  as  our  qualified  farmer  residents  should  not 
be  wastefully  squandered  away  to  our  irreparable  loss.  Peasant 
proprietors,  unlike  tenants,  take  interest  in  preserving  the  fertility 
of  the  soil  and  improving  the  farm.  As  owners  and  taxpayers 
they  are  interested  in  lasting  progress  and  welfare.  The  proper 
colonization  of  our  qualified  immigrants  on  farms  in  the  United 
States  would  certainly  result  in  better  conditions,  in  the  increase 
of  food  supplies,  in  the  augmentation  ©f  the  general  welfare, 
and  the  lasting  prosperity  of  the  United  States. 


208  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

Nation.    82:398-9.     May  17,  1906 

Immigration  and  the  South. 

When  we  remember  that  the  entire  peninsula  of  Italy,  exclud- 
ing the  Alps  and  the  Apennines,  is  but  little  larger  than  the  State 
of  Georgia,  and  that  it  supports,  chiefly  by  agriculture,  a  popula- 
tion of  36,000,000  we  can  see  why  newcomers  from  the  south  of 
Europe,  trained  to  methods  of  careful  and  intensive  cultivation, 
should  get  ahead  in  a  region  where  the  farming  methods  are 
among  the  loosest  and  most  wasteful  in  the  world.  Many 
instances  could  be  given  of  the  achievements  of  adventurous 
immigrants  who  have  disregarded  all  warnings,  and  have  found 
comfortable  homes,  hospitable  friends,  and  a  freedom  which  they 
could  not  have  hoped  for  in  the  over-crowded  cities.  A  colony 
at  Ladson,  South  Carolina,  has  found  silk-raising  profitable. 
Prosperous  Italian  and  Bohemian  truck  farmers  are  now  living 
along  the  seaboard  from  Norfolk  to  Jacksonville.  An  experiment 
in  Alabama,  where  a  colony  was  set  at  work  in  the  cotton  fields, 
has  been  wholly  successful,  and  has  shown  that  the  cultivation 
of  cotton  can  be  performed  by  white  labor  as  well  as  by  black. 
In  the  South  more  than  one  "model"  farm,  demonstrating  the 
effect  of  intensive  methods  and  hard  work,  is  in  the  hands  of 
men  who,  though  industrious  and  intelligent,  have  been  in  this 
country  hardly  long  enough  to  make  themselves  understood. 
These  examples  of  adaptability,  as  they  become  more  widely 
known  among  immigrants,  cannot  but  have  the  effect  of  turning 
attention  to  the  South. 

The  importance  of  immigration  to  the  South  can  hardly  be 
overestimated.  The  population  in  many  districts  is  very  sparse, 
and  the  opportunities  for  development  of  agricultural  and  mineral 
resources  are  boundless.  For  this  work  there  must  be  both  men 
and  money;  but  if  the  South  can  once  turn  the  tide  of  immigra- 
tion, the  capital  will  be  forthcoming  in  abundance.  A  question 
often  raised  is  the  effect  of  foreign  labor  upon  the  negro.  If  the 
South  carries  out  its  plan  of  drawing  the  best  foreign  labor,  the 
effect  upon  the  negro  should  be  beneficial.  If  he  is  to  hold  his 
own  in  competition,  he  will  be  forced  to  improve  himself,  and 
he  will  be  stimulated  intellectually  and  morally.  One  reason 
why  he  is  lazy  and  irresponsible  is  that  he  often  regards  himself 
as  not  a  direct  competitor  of  the  white ;  and  he  measures  himself 


ON   IMMIGRATION  209 

by  no  standard  of  achievement  except  that  of  the  shiftless  and 
ignorant  of  his  own  race.  The  coming  of  the  immigrant  should 
open  the  eyes  of  his  mind  and  soul.  Placed  side  by  side  with 
earnest,  steady  workmen,  he  himself  should  reach  a  higher  degree 
of  skill  and  trustworthiness. 

From  every  point  of  view,  it  is  the  South's  plain  duty  to  itself 
and  to  the  rest  of  the  country  to  correct  the  evil  impressions 
that  have  gone  abroad  as  to  its  conditions  of  life  and  the  oppor- 
tunities for  tranquil,  profitable,  livelihood.  In  order  to  set  forth 
its  manifold  advantages  the  South  must  employ  such  businesslike 
methods  as  have  been  used  in  advertising  our  own  Western 
States  and  the  Canadian  Northwest.  Keen,  alert  agents  at  home 
and  abroad  will  doubtless  obtain  desirable  settlers  in  growing 
numbers. 


North  American  Review.    193:561-73.    April,  1911 

Needed — A  Domestic  Immigration  Policy.     Frances  A.  Kellor 

Officials  charged  with  either  formulating  or  enforcing  the 
Government's  policy  recognize  that  it  has  two  distinct  phases, 
no  matter  how  closely  related  are  causes  and  results,  which  call 
for  a  different  method  of  treatment.  One  is  negative,  national  and 
international  in  scope,  and  deals  with  the  admission  or  exclusion 
of  aliens.  It  is  determined  by  international  agreements,  treaties, 
economic  conditions  and  expansion  of  trades.  So  far  as  expressed 
in  regulations,  these  are  definite  and  comprehensive  and  adequate 
machinery  is  provided  for  their  enforcement.  That  they  are  not 
wholly  practical  and  humane  is  nowhere  better  shown  than  that 
for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1910,  24,270  persons  under  this 
system  were  allowed  to  break  up  their  homes  and  come  to  our 
shores,  only  to  be  deported,  a  hardship  of  travel  both  ways  that 
should  not  be  tolerated.  With  this  policy  of  exclusion  of  admis- 
sion of  aliens  the  commission  has  apparently  adequately  dealt. 

The  second  phase  is  the  assimilation  of  the  immigrant  after 
arrival — constituting  our  domestic  policy.  This  necessarily 
includes  distribution,  protection  and  education  after  he  is 
admitted  to  residence.  This  is  an  ever-pressing  question,  regard- 
less of  the  number  and  nationality,  which  may  increase  or  de- 
crease the  volume  and  character  of  the  problem,  but  which  in  no 
wise  changes  the  essential  features  of  the  policy  to  be  adopted. 


210  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

On  this  matter  of  domestic  policy  the  commission  is  singularly 
and  disappointingly  silent.  Whatever  study  it  has  made  of  con- 
ditions in  the  country  is  apparently  largely  used  in  recommenda- 
tions for  exclusion.  No  matter  how  strict  these  laws  are  made, 
they  will  not  solve  the  problem  already  confronting  the  nation 
and  states. 

(  What  are  the  obligations  and  requirements  exacted  from  the 
alien  on  admission  to  this  country  by  our  foreign  policy?  He 
must  possess  a  sound  body,  a  minimum  amount  of  money,  the 
assumption  being  that  he  is  to  earn  his  living  as  a  laborer.  He 
must  possess  fair  intelligence  and  a  good  record.  Generally, 
upon  arrival,  he  must  measure  up  in  obedience  to  a  most  complex 
enactment  of  federal,  state  and  municipal  regulations,  unher- 
alded by  soldiers  or  other  familiar  exponents  of  government. 
The  regulations  for  admission  also  admit  aliens  without  indus- 
trial, and  frequently  without  any  school,  training,  and  women 
and  children  wholly  unfamiliar  with  the  freedom,  rights  and 
protection  accorded  to  such  in  this  country.  / 

The  very  conditions  of  entrance  impose  on  the  Government 
at  once  the  imperative  necessity  for  distribution,  education  and 
protection  if  the  domestic  policy  is  to  be  assimilation.  They  are 
strangers  and  must  find  homes ;  they  are  unemployed  and  must 
find  work ;  they  are  ignorant  and  of  great  faith  in  the  new 
country  and  must  find  protection ;  they  do  not  know  our  lan- 
guage, which  is  essential  to  industrial  progress  ;  there  are  children 
to  enter  our  schools  and  women  entitled  to  rights  and  privileges 
as  yet  unknown  to  them  ;  when  savings  begin,  safe  depositories 
must  be  found ;  because  the  families  of  many  immigrants  are 
still  in  the  home  country,  savings  must  be  shared  and  a  safe 
means  of  communication  found. 

Assuming  that  our  domestic  policy  is  assimilation,  which  is 
strengthening  in  the  immigrant  that  inheritance  which  will  enrich 
our  national  life,  as  well  as  bringing  to  him  what  America  now 
holds  of  freedom,  justice,  opportunity  and  benevolence,  what  are 
the  means  adopted  by  the  Government  to  accomplish  this?  The 
essentials  of  such  a  policy  obviously  do  not  lie  in  regulations, 
repressions  and  negation,  because  these  characterize  our  foreign 
policy.  They  must,  therefore,  lie  in  fair  industrial  opportunity, 
distribution,  protection,  education  and  equal  protection  of  the 
laws. 

First,  industrial  opportunity  and  distribution.     Upon  the  main 


ON  IMMIGRATION  211 

facts  of  fair  industrial  opportunity  there  is  agreement  that  too 
many  unskilled  workers,  among  them  many  peasants,  women  and 
children,  crowd  the  cities,  increase  the  evils  of  home  work  and 
child  labor  and  imperil  the  health  and  lives  of  children  by  over- 
crowding. It  is  also  known  that  in  smaller  communities,  labor 
camps,  colonies,  and  in  some  industries,  notably  the  steel-mills 
and  canneries,  aliens  are  underpaid,  wretchedly  housed  and,  as 
one  woman  said,  "a  blight  on  our  civilization  that  some  people 
should  be  allowed  or  compelled  to  live  as  they  do  in  some  of  our 
small  communities."  Distribution  is  no  solution  for  the  prevail- 
ing standards  of  living  without  other  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
Government.  What,  then,  constitutes  wise  and  efficient  distribu- 
tion, and  what  are  the  results  of  the  artificial  distribution  already 
attempted? 

In  1907,  there  was  established  by  the  Federal  Government  a 
Division  of  Information 

for  the  purpose  of  promoting  a  beneficial  distribution  of  aliens  by  pub- 
lishing information  gathered  from  several  states  regarding  the  sources, 
products  and  physical  characteristics  and  to  publish  such  information  in 
different  languages,  this  to  be  distributed  to  admitted  aliens  who  may  ask 
for  such  information  at  immigrant  stations.  States  may  have  representatives 
at  these  stations  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  special  inducements  to 
immigrants  to  settle  in  the  respective  states. 

This  bureau  has  but  a  small  appropriation.  It  has  collected 
information  regarding  labor  in  various  parts  of  the  country  and 
its  chief  work  has  been  in  finding  employment.  Its  work  for  a 
considerable  time  was  limited  to  furnishing  farm  laborers  and 
domestics  only,  and  it  was  prohibited  from  distributing  informa- 
tion on  board  ship  or  at  ports  of  entry.  The  provision  that 
information  should  be  furnished  on  request  only  has  resulted  in 
a  very  limited  distribution  of  information,  as  most  aliens  are 
ignorant  of  its  existence.  The  average  number  of  persons  fur- 
nished employment  per  year  is  about  4000,  while  information  is 
given  to  three  or  four  times  this  number.  This  bureau  is  not 
popular  and  each  year  its  abolition  is  recommended.  A  bill 
introduced  in  February,  1910,  providing  for  the  establishment  of 
branches  in  various  parts  of  the  country  and  for  the  regulation 
of  private  employment  agencies  doing  an  interstate  business, 
failed  of  passage.  With  one  or  two  exceptions  the  states  have 
not  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege  of  having  representatives 
at  immigration  ports. 

14 


212  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

The  restrictions  upon  the  activities  of  the  bureau  are  due  to 
the  fear  that  immigration  would  be  encouraged  and  laborers 
directed  to  places  where  there  was  an  over-supply  of  labor.  Had 
the  opposition  concerned  itself  with  directing  and  constructing 
the  work  of  this  bureau,  with  developing  a  domestic  policy  while 
endeavoring  to  fortify  the  external  policy  of  exclusion,  in  other 
words,  judicially  balancing  the  two,  a  memorable  beginning  in 
our  domestic  policy  would  have  been  made. 

A  wise  and  comprehensive  distribution  scheme,  as  a  part 
of  the  process  of  assimilation,  would  make  this  Division  some- 
thing more  than  a  labor  agency.  It  would  invest  it  with  powers 
to  study  the  problem  of  congestion  and  distribution,  to  issue 
publications  regarding  opportunities  in  the  whole  country,  and 
enable  it  to  become  the  clearing-house  not  only  in  actual  distri- 
bution, but  in  education.  Here  should  be  worked  out  the  prin- 
ciples and  methods  of  establishing  uniform  state  agencies  to  be 
recommended  to  states  and  cities.  Here  states  should  be  able 
to  turn  for  suggestions  and  cooperation.  The  establishment  of  a 
series  of  federal  employment  agencies  may  indeed  be  one  very 
important  part  of  the  work  of  distribution,  but  furnishing  men 
with  a  needed  job  today  is  not  more  important  than  knowing 
how  and  under  what  conditions  other  jobs  are  furnished  and 
what  opportunities  there  are  for  fitting  the  man  into  a  place  of 
progression.  This  is  especially  true  when  the  work  of  such 
a  bureau  represents  less  than  i  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of 
persons  placed  through  employment  agencies.  Regardless  of  the 
number  of  branches  the  Government  may  establish,  private 
agencies  will  never  cease  to  need  control. 

A  number  of  the  states  have  adopted  a  somewhat  uniform 
policy  with  reference  to  the  distribution  of  the  unemployed  in 
the  establishment  of  free  employment  agencies.  Unfortunately, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  the  establishment  of  these  bureaus  has 
not  been  accompanied  by  a  corresponding  wise  regulation  of 
private  agencies,  and  they  have  suffered  because  of  insufficient 
appropriations  and  excessive  competition.  The  principle  of  state 
bureaus  has  not  yet  been  intelligently  applied  as  a  remedy  for 
the  immigrant  unemployed.  The  extension  of  such  state  agencies 
cooperating  with  federal  bureaus  and  of  state  regulation  of 
private  agencies  supplementing  federal  action  is  a  sound  domestic 
policy. 

No  system  of  distribution  can  be  deemed  a  good  one  which 


ON   IMMIGRATION  213 

is  but  temporary — concentrating  men  in  seasonal  employments 
in  summer  and  forcing  them  to  crowd  the  cities  for  the  winter 
months ;  no  system  can  be  a  good  one  which  sends  men  away 
from  cities  with  their  advantages  to  communities  or  districts 
where  they  live  like  animals,  with  no  opportunities  for  education, 
religion  or  culture;  nor  can  it  be  a  good  one  where  men  are 
segregated  and  families  discouraged  or  where  aliens  concentrate 
in  colonies  and  are  cut  off  from  Americanizing  influences. 

Under  our  immigration  regulations  and  by  contract  with 
the  Government,  we  have  insisted  that  aliens  at  Ellis  Island 
shall  be  rated  and  routed  directly  from  the  island  and  shall  not 
be  detained  in  New  York  to  be  exploited.  We  have  also  insisted 
that  they  shall  be  sent  to  their  destinations  by  the  most  direct 
route.  We  still  leave  the  second-cabin  alien  to  the  mercy  of 
runners,  boarding-house  arid  other  agents  to  be  detained  and 
exploited  as  long  as  they  see  fit.  How  can  we  possibly  expect 
an  alien  to  be  law-abiding,  property  respecting  and  honest,  when 
his  first  experiences  in  this  country  are  robbery,  overcharging, 
neglect  and  frequently  instructions  to  evade  the  law? 

We  furnish  the  alien  with  no  information  whatever  about 
our  resources,  conditions,  laws,  obligations,  rights  and  duties, 
leaving  that  to  his  own  countrymen  or  to  business  and  political 
interests  that  crowd  the  foreign  newspapers  with  exaggerations 
and  misrepresentations,  of  which  practices  the  Government  itself 
is  ignorant. 

Is  it  unreasonable,  or,  more  dreadful  still,  unconstitutional, 
to  require  that  a  part  of  our  domestic  policy  shall  be  first  the 
establishment  of  the  principle  and  the  necessary  machinery  for 
protecting  newly  arrived  aliens  on  their  way  to  their  final 
destination  ? 

Is  it  unreasonable  to  require  that  nat'ion  and  state  shall 
prepare,  in  languages  which  he  can  understand,  information 
which  will  be  of  service  to  the  alien?  It  may  be  contended  that 
he  will  not  read  it,  that  the  word  of  his  friend  counts  for  more. 
This  is  true  at  first.  But  it  opens  his  mind,  sets  him  thinking, 
gives  him  the  feeling  that  the  new  country  is  interested  in  him 
as  an  individual,  and  later,  when  the  need  comes,  he  has  more 
than  one  source  from  which  to  draw.  Such  information  educates 
his  own  countrymen  who  assume  to  educate  him  and  he  is  less 
in  their  power. 

There  are  other  matters  which  fall   more  particularly  within 


214  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

the  province  of  the  state,  but  upon  which  there  has  been  little 
agreement  and  action.  The  alien  workman  is  the  poorest 
protected  of  all  humanity  in  this  country  and  is  even  worse  off 
than  the  children.  Two  illustrations  show  this :  In  labor  camps, 
the  working  and  living  conditions  of  men  are  the  worst  known 
in  the  country  and  the  children  are  the  most  neglected.  In  home 
work,  the  women  are  the  most  exploited.  Both  industries  depend 
largely  upon  aliens.  We  cannot  build  up  a  sound  country  until 
protection  is  afforded  aliens  in  the  industries  which  they  largely 
constitute.  Every  progressive  state  now  has  a  child-labor  law 
as  a  part  of  its  policy.  No  state  has  any  kind  of  an  alien  labor 
law.  Every  progressive  state  should  add  regulation  of  condi- 
tions in  labor  camps,  elimination  of  home  work  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  minimum  wage  schedules  below  which  it  is  agreed 
no  person  can  maintain  a  decent  standard  of  living.  Unless  this 
is  done  the  restrictionists  will  find  ample  arguments  in  our 
economic  treatment  of  aliens  to  force  a  higher  wage  rate  and 
standard  of  living  by  limiting  the  supply  of  alien  labor. 

No  domestic  policy  would  be  complete  without  some  educa- 
tional program.  Recognizing  the  limitations  of  the  powers 
of  the  Federal  Department  of  Education,  there  still  appears  to 
be  no  sound  reason  why  it  should  not  be  interested  in  the 
education  of  aliens  to  the  extent  of  studying  the  facilities  now 
offered  for  both  adults  and  children.  The  Federal  Immigration 
Commission  made  a  study  of  the  children  of  immigrants  in 
schools,  but  there  exists  no  central  organization  to  put  whatever 
recommendations  it  may  make  into  practice.  The  subjects  of 
adult  education  in  English  and  civics  remain  untouched  by  the 
commission  and  there  are  no  data  showing  the  progress  or 
methods  in  use  in  various  states  which  could  be  nationalized, 
as  is  our  public  school  system.  One  of  the  illustrations  of  this 
anomaly  is  that  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization  requires  a  knowl- 
edge of  English  and  American  institutions,  but  in  no  way  provides 
any  such  instruction.  It  leaves  this  entirely  to  the  politician  or 
to  the  philanthropist,  with  the  result  that  the  examinations  are  a 
farce  and  the  process  of  citizenship  undignified  and  superficial. 

It  is  conceivable  that  the  time  will  come  when  a  part  of  the 
immigration  policy  of  the  states  will  be  the  establishment  of 
schools  of  citizenship  and  regular  and  graded  courses  in  both 
English  and  civics  not  only  to  meet  naturalization  requirements, 
but  to  meet  industrial  requirements.  There  is  no  reason  why 


ON  IMMIGRATION  215 

the  work  of  the  courts  should  not  be  dignified  and  simplified  by 
the  acceptance  of  certificates  from  such  established  schools  under 
boards  of  education,  attesting  qualifications  for  the  granting  of 
the  various  papers,  nor  is  there  any  reason  why  such  schools 
should  not  provide  instruction  corresponding  to  the  requirements 
for  first,  second  and  third  papers.  Furthermore,  the  tendency  of 
legislation  is  to  restrict  many  occupations  to  citizens,  and  trade 
instruction  showing  what  occupations  require  citizenship  as  well 
as  instruction  in  the  requirement  of  such  business  would  prove 
highly  important  to  assimilation  and  to  progress. 

Night  schools  for  teaching  English  in  various  districts  with 
as  many  different  systems  as  there  are  teachers;  no  system  of 
compulsory  attendance  or  truancy  officers ;  miscellaneous  lectures 
on  citizenship — all  coming  at  the  end  of  the  day,  when  men  and 
women  are  fatigued,  will  not  answer  the  need.  It  is  also  con- 
ceivable that  employers  may  find  the  introduction  of  English 
classes  during  work  hours  not  impossible  as  a  means  of  obtain- 
ing greater  efficiency  and  decreasing  the  cost  of  industrial 
accidents,  so  often  due  to  ignorance  of  the  English  language  in 
which  orders  are  given.  It  is  quite  possible  that  state  depart- 
ments of  education  may  take  an  interest  in  the  working  out  of 
school  methods  and  text-books  to  suit  the  needs  of  aliens  and 
that  state  legislatures  may  see  the  necessity  for  an  appropriation 
for  schools  in  camps,  and  a  fund  to  be  applied  to  localities  where 
numbers  of  alien  families  are  suddenly  placed  at  work  tempo- 
rarily on  contracts.  These  emergency  families  not  only  test  the 
resources  of  the  local  school,  but  impair  its  efficiency  for  American 
children  in  matters  of  grading,  and  so  forth.  Such  a  fund  might 
well  include  transportation  where  it  is  necessary  and  take  small 
children  in  such  communities  to  school  during  the  severe  winter 
months.  Increasing  the  library  facilities  for  aliens,  providing 
American  history  in  the  languages  of  immigrants — these  are  but 
illustrations  of  what  must  constitute  a  wise  educational  policy. 
As  nation  and  states  we  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  any  educa- 
tional policy  whatever  at  the  present  time  with  reference  to 
adult  immigrants,  and  yet  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1910, 
there  were  admitted  868,310  persons  between  the  ages  of  four- 
teen and  forty-four,  or  83  per  cent  of  the  total. 

Studies  and  encouragement  of  education  among  alien  adults 
on  the  part  of  the  Federal  Government  will  not  interfere  with 
municipal  and  state  educational  work  among  aliens.  The  great 


2i6  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

need  is  that  the  Government  representatives — federal  and  state 
— should  get  together  and  enumerate  clearly  the  principles  of  a 
domestic  policy  and  then  set  about  patiently  and  courageously  'to 
work  it  out  each  state  according  to  its  needs,  and  as  fast  as  it 
can  enlighten  its  communities  and  bring  the  vision  to  Americans 
who  now  think  assimilation  to  be  entirely  a  process  affecting  the 
alien  and  that  the  labor  asset  is  the  only  one  which  the  alien 
brings. 

Survey.    25:527-9.    January  7,  1911 

Adjustment — not  Restriction.     Grace  Abbott 

The  commission  has  recommended  that  the  Division  of  In- 
formation and  Distribution  shall  be  developed ;  that  steamship 
lines  shall  be  required  to  improve  steerage  conditions;  that  the 
exploitation  of  the  immigrant  shall  be  reduced  by  better  federal 
supervision  of  existing  agencies  and  the  enactment  of  more 
effective  legislation  by  the  states;  and  finally,  that  because  of  the 
character  of  the  "new  immigration,"  and  because  of  the  over- 
supply  of  the  kind  of  labor  it  furnishes,  immigration  should  be 
considerably  restricted  by  means  of  a  literacy  test.  Public 
attention  will  probably  be  focused  on  this  last  recommendation 
and  it  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  consider  with  some  care  the 
reasons  on  which  it  is  based. 

Regarding  the  character  of  our  recent  immigrants  the  report 
says  that  conviction  for  crime  is  not  more  common  among  them 
than  among  the  native  born ;  that  they  are  not  diseased  and  are 
rarely  found  among  the  victims  of  alcoholism ;  that  pauperism 
is  "relatively  at  a  minimum"  among  them;  that  their  homes  are 
in  "reasonably  good  or  fair  condition";  and  that  their  children 
attend  school  in  such  large  numbers  as  to  indicate  that  the 
advantages  of  an  education  are  appreciated  by  immigrant  parents. 
But  all  of  these  facts  are  outweighed  in  the  eyes  of  the  com- 
mission because  it  believes  that  the  "new  immigrants"  do  not 
intend  to  remain  here  permanently ;  that  they  come  only  to 
take  advantage  of  the  higher  wages  paid  for  industrial  labor  in 
this  country  and  expect  to  return  in  a  few  years.  While  admit- 
ting this  is  not  true  of  them  all,  the  report  says  it  is  sufficiently 
common  to  justify  "referring  to  it  as  characteristic  of  them  as 
a  class."  This  is  the  usual  argument  advanced  against  the  immi- 


ON  IMMIGRATION  217 

grant  of  today  and  it  has  done  service  against  those  of  every 
generation. 

Admitting  that  it  is  true,  it  might  be  urged  in  the  immigrant's 
defense  that  he  has  never  been  known  to  take  back  with  him 
the  railroads,  canals,  and  subways  he  has  built,  or  the  great 
industries  that  have  been  developed  through  his  labor.  But, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  cannot  be  shown  that  these  new  immi- 
grants will  not  remain  in  this  country.  The  commission  finds 
that  40  per  cent  return  to  Europe  and  30  per  cent  remain  there. 
Moreover,  among  the  30  per  cent  who  remain  are  many  who 
have  not  acquired  a  competence,  for  among  those  who  return, 
according  to  the  report,  are  the  victims  of  disease  and  industrial 
accidents,  the  aged,  the  temperamentally  unfit,  and  the  widows 
and  children  of  immigrants  who  have  died  here. 

What  30,  per  cent  do  is  usually  not  regarded  as  indicating 
the  motives  of  the  whole  group  and  if  the  30  per  cent  is  made 
up  very  largely  of  the  unfortunate  victims  of  American  indus- 
trial life,  is  it  reasonable  to  say  that  even  30  per  cent  intended 
when  they  came  to  remain  only  temporarily  in  the  United  States  ? 

The  reason  for  emigrating,  the  commission  finds,  is  no  longer 
a  desire  to  escape  "intolerable  conditions,"  and  the  public  is 
therefore  warned  not  to  consider  the  immigration  movement 
from  the  "standpoint  of  sentiment,"  but  to  look  upon  it  as,  an 
"economic  problem."  When .  from  among  the  many  stories  of 
Russian  atrocities,  that  of  the  young  Russian  Jewish  mother 
who  saw  her  baby's  eyes  burned  out  and  her  husband 
killed  in  one  of  the  "pogroms,"  and  who  is  saving  enough  to 
bring  over  the  remainder  of  her  family  to  America  so  that  they 
may  know  some  years  of  peace,  is  contrasted  with  the  very  mild 
persecution  suffered  by  those  Puritan  ancestors  whose  courage  we 
have  been  taught  to  respect,  it  would  seem  that  an  entirely  new 
standard  of  "intolerable  conditions"  has  been  adopted  by  the 
commission.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  causes  of  immigration  today 
are  not  really  different  in  principle  from  those  in  the  seventeenth 
or  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  Letts,  Lithuanians,  Finns,  Poles,  and  Russians  who  are 
coming  from  all  parts  of  the  Czar's  dominions  are  fired  with  the 
same  political  idealism  which  the  German  revolutionists  con- 
tributed to  American  life;  the  Jews  from  Russia  and  Roumania, 
the  various  racial  groups  that  come  from  Turkey,  and  the 
Spanish  Protestants  are  seeking  a  religious  asylum,  just  as  the 


218  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

Puritans,  the  Huguenots,  the  English  Catholics,  and  the  Quakers 
did  so  many  years  ago ;  the  south  Italian,  like  the  Irish  immi- 
grant, comes  to  escape  a  landlordism  which  keeps  him  and  his 
children  in  abject  poverty;  others,  better  situated,  are  coming 
from  all  parts  of  Europe  because  they  have  decided  that  the  only 
hope  of  real  economic  and  social  independence  lies  in  a  newer 
country;  still  others  are  plain  adventurers,  and  it  is  probably 
safe  to  say  that  about  the  same  per  cent  of  these  are  succeeding 
today  as  have  succeeded  in  every  century  since  the  time  of 
Columbus. 

(  With  regard  to  the  argument  that  the  immigrant  is  responsible 
for  the  introduction  of  a  lower  standard  of  living  in  the  United 
States — and  the  commission  does  not  show  that  he  is — it  should 
be  pointed  out  that  the  immigrant  prima  facie  would  never 
intentionally  underbid  in  the  labor  market.  No  one  is  more 
eager  than  he  to  raise  the  standard  of  living,  for  it  is  the  hope 
of  accomplishing  this  that  has  been  a  determining  factor  in  his 
decision  to  leave  home.  Unwittingly  he  may  accept  wages  below 
the  market  rate  if  he  falls  into  the  hands  of  disreputable  labor 
agents  and  unscrupulous  employers,  who  take  every  advantage 
of  his  ignorance  of  American  conditions.  Protective  measures 
could,  of  course,  be  devised  to  prevent  these  practices,  but  the 
public  unfortunately  continues  to  be  more  interested  in  restriction 
than  in  means  by  which  these  immigrants  may  be  saved  from 
industrial  exploitation.  ^ 

Certain  classes  of  immigrants  are,  in  the  opinion  of  the  com- 
mission, to  be  regarded  as  peculiarly  undesirable.  It  is  especially 
recommended,  for  example,  that  men  who  come  unaccompanied 
by  their  families  should  be  excluded.  While  those  who  are 
familiar  with  the  immigrant  question  realize  that  large  groups 
of  men  living  together  present  a  problem  with  peculiar  difficul- 
ties, they  are  none  the  less  convinced  that  our  efforts  should  be 
directed  to  a  solution  of  these  difficulties,  rather  than  to  devising 
some  test  by  which  some  of  the  men  will  be  excluded.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  best  men,  that  is  the  best  husbands  and  fathers, 
usually  emigrate  before  their  families.  The  man  who  seriously 
considers  the  welfare  of  his  wife  and  children  and  is  not  driven 
by  immediate  persecution  will  precede  them  to  America,  learn 
something  of  the  country,  secure  employment,  and  have  a  little 
home  ready  for  them  when  they  come  to  join  him.  To  discour- 
age this  practice  would  seem  to  be  wholly  undesirable. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  219 

As  for  the  literacy  test,  it  is  difficult  to  find  anything  to 
recommend  it  as  the  best  means,  or  even  as  a  good  means,  of 
selecting  our  future  citizens.  What  we  desire  is  a  character  test, 
and  the  ability  to  read  and  write  has  never  been  regarded  as  a 
means  of  determining  honesty  or  thrift.  It  is  not  even  a  test 
of  ambition,  for  the  immigrants  come  without  this  meager  edu- 
cational equipment  because  they  have  been  given  no  opportunity 
to  attend  school  in  the  countries  from  which  they  come.  There  is 
nothing  which  is  so  much  the  result  of  conditions  over  which 
the  immigrant  has  no  control  as  his  ability  to  read  and  write, 
and  no  deficiency  which  we  are  so  well  equipped  to  supply. 

As  for  the  other  tests  considered  by  the  commission — an  in- 
creased head  tax  or  the  requirement  that  an  immigrant  bring 
$25,  $50  or  a  $100 — they  fail  also  as  tests  of  a  man's  "economic 
fitness."  The  man  who  comes  with  several  hundred  or  thousand 
dollars  may  be  much  less  "desirable"  than  the  intelligent  and 
adaptable  man  who  emigrates  while  he  is  still  young  and  begins 
his  industry  in  his  new  home. 

Survey.     29:419-20.    January  4,  1913 

Pen  and  Book  as  Tests  of  Character.    Jane  Addams 

Much  of  the  discussion  in  the  House  and  in  the  press  was 
particularly  objectionable  because  of  the  emphasis  placed  upon 
racial  differences.  The  old  and  new  immigration  were  fre- 
quently contrasted  with  the  traditional  odiousness  resulting  from 
comparisons.  The  epithet  of  "inferior  races"  was  constantly 
applied  to  certain  peasant  groups  who,  as  the  result  of  isolation 
and  lack  of  opportunity  are  doubtless  backward,  but  who  do  not 
therefore  belong  to  an  inferior  stock,  and  who  exhibit  no  greater 
differences  to  other  groups  of  their  own  race  than  those  which 
often  obtain  between  branches  of  the  same  family.  Striking 
differences  are  certainly  found  between  certain  family  groups  in 
America,  one  of  which  has  remained  for  five  generations  stranded 
in  the  mountains  of  Virginia  or  Tennessee,  in  contrast  to  their 
cousins  whose  forefathers  crossed  over  the  mountains  into  fertile 
valleys.  Many  mountain  whites  of  America  are  illiterate  and 
totally  unacquainted  with  the  advances  of  civilization,  but  they 
do  not  thereby  change  their  race  nor  their  capacity  for  develop- 
ment. 


220  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

After  all,  literacy  is  neither  a  test  of  character  nor  of  ability ; 
it  is  merely  an  index  of  the  educational  system  of  the  community 
in  which  a  man  has  been  reared.  The  literacy  test  will  always 
work  in  favor  of  the  man  from  the  city  and  discriminate  against 
the  man  from  the  country.  On  the  face  of  it,  it  would  seem 
safer  to  admit  a  sturdy  peasant  from  the  mountains  of  Calabria 
than  a  sophisticated  Neopolitan,  familiar  with  the  refined  methods 
of  police  graft  which  have  made  the  Camorra  famous.  In 
addition  to  that,  the  peasant  finds  work  waiting  for  him,  the 
educated  man  "above  manual  labor"  often  has  a  pitiful  struggle 
to  keep  himself  from  starvation.  Our  experience  at  Hull  House 
is  similar  to  that  of  the  friends  of  the  immigrant  everywhere. 
We  recall  an  Italian  editor,  a  Greek  professor,  a  Russian  medical 
student,  an  Armenian  Master  of  Arts,  for  whom  it  was  impos- 
sible to  obtain  anything  but  manual  work  which  they  finally 
undertook  in  bitterness  of  spirit  and  with  insufficiency  of  muscle. 
A  settlement  constantly  sees  the  deterioration  of  highly  educated 
foreigners  under  the  strain  of  maladjustment,  in  marked  con- 
trast to  the  often  rapid  rise  of  the  families  of  illiterate  immi- 
grants. 

One  of  the  most  gifted  boys  ever  connected  with  Hull  House, 
who  is  now  a  rising  man  in  his  profession  and  in  the  civic  life 
of  Chicago,  is  the  son  of  immigrant  parents  who  can  neither 
read  nor  write,  while  one  of  our  most  baffling  cases  is  the  refined 
and  educated  son  of  a  Greek  clergyman  who  can  find  no  work 
which  he  does  not  consider  beneath  his  educational  qualifications. 

The  only  service  America  is  universally  eager  to  render  to 
the  immigrant  and  his  children,  and  moreover  the  only  one  it  is 
thoroughly  equipped  to  offer,  is  free  education.  By  the  same 
token,  so  eager  are  the  immigrants  to  avail  themselves  of  Ameri- 
ca's educational  opportunities  for  their  children,  that  the  census 
figures  show  greater  illiteracy  among  native  whites  of  native 
parentage  than  among  native  whites  of  foreign  parentage.  The 
average  illiteracy  of  native  white  of  native  parentage  is  5.7  per 
cent  and  of  native  white  of  foreign  parents  1.6  per  cent.  In  the 
light  of  these  figures  it  would  seem  clear  that  illiteracy  is  the 
one  defect  most  easily  remedied  and  that  American  experience 
does  not  justify  the  use  of  literacy  as  a  fair  test  for  entrance. 

Throughout  the  discussion  concerning  the  literacy  test  the 
"oversupply  of  unskilled  labor"  was  constantly  referred  to, 
although  no  comprehensive  inquiry  has  ever  been  undertaken 


ON  IMMIGRATION  221 

which  could  demonstrate  this.  We  have  no  national  system  of 
labor  exchanges  which  might  show  how  much  of  the  apparent 
unemployment  is  maladjustment  of  the  supply  to  the  demand  and 
how  much  is  oversupply.  Certainly  underemployment,  casual 
work,  long  hours,  poor  wages,  unsanitary  shops,  are  found  in 
industries  in  which  the  "unskilled  immigrant  man"  is  not  em- 
ployed. Limiting  the  supply  by  restricting  immigration  will  cure 
none  of  these,  and  it  merely  confuses  the  issue  to  claim  that  it 
will.  Until  industrial  conditions  in  America  are  faced,  the  immi- 
grant will  continue  to  be  blamed  for  conditions  for  which  the 
community  is  responsible.  There  is  no  doubt  that  America  has 
failed  to  make  legislative  provisions  against  those  evils  as  other 
countries  have  done,  partly  b.ecause  the  average  citizen  holds  a 
contemptuous  attitude  toward  the  "foreigner"  and  is  not  stirred 
to  action  on  his  behalf. 

New  York  Times.    January  10,  1912 

Illiteracy   and    Its    Significance 

In  the  innumerable  discussions  of  immigration  and  the  neces- 
sity for  restricting  it  the  question  of  illiteracy  comes  up  again 
and  again.  Nobody  denies  that  the  man  who  cannot  read  may 
have  in  him  the  making  of  a  citizen  good  as  well  as  useful,  or 
that  the  man  to  whom  the  world  of  letters  is  open  may  be  worse 
than  useless,  the  worst  possible  addition  to  our  population. 
Nevertheless,  while  nobody  denies  these  things  and  they  are  often 
asserted,  the  impulse  to  bar  the  illiterate  is  still  widely  felt,  and 
it  is  not  infrequently  suggested  as  either  necessary  or  judicious. 

Always,  or  a  least  much  more  than  usually,  illiteracy  is  treated 
in  these  discussions  as  if  it  were  an  absolute  thing,  to  be  observed 
and  condemned  as  such,  and  even  those  who  would  let  in  the 
illiterate  admit  his  essential  inferiority  to  the  man  who  has  been 
to  school.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  inability  to  read,  standing  alone, 
tells  nothing  whatever  about  a  man — except  that  he  cannot  read. 
It  gains  significance  only  when  we  know  why  he  cannot  read. 

If  born  and  brought  up  in  a  country,  or  a  part  of  a  country, 
where  the  opportunities  to  acquire  the  elements  of  education  are 
good,  cheap,  and  open  to  all,  the  illiterate  is  a  very  different  per- 
son from  him  whose  early  years  were  passed  where  there  are  no 
schools  or  where  there  are  only  a  few,  accessible  only  to  a  small 


222  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

or  favored  class.  In  the  one  case  the  man  who  cannot  read  is 
almost  or  quite  certainly  an  imbecile,  abnormal,  and  degenerate 
to  a  degree  that  warrants  his  exclusion  by  that  one  test.  In  the 
other  case  he  may  be  perfectly  normal,  of  fair  or  even  high 
intelligence,  and  eminently  eligible  for  adoption  as  a  citizen. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  either,  that  some  countries  that 
once  sent  us  good  though  illiterate  immigrants  have  so  increased 
their  school  facilities  in  recent  years  that  they  no  longer  do  so — 
that  the  illiterates  now  coming  from  them  should  be,  and  in 
perfect  justice  can  be,  sent  back  whence  they  came  by  descend- 
ants of  ancestors  who  were  themselves  illiterate  when  they 
reached  these  shores.  There  is,  therefore,  nothing  at  all  in  that 
often  offered  argument. 

Real  undesirability  in  an  immigrant  consists  much  less  in  what 
he  is  than  in  what  his  children  will  be.  No  individual  can  hurt 
us  appreciably  when  he  has  only  remedial  faults  and  curable 
diseases.  If  he  be  the  predestined  progenitor  of  a  Jukes  family, 
he  should  be  excluded,  no  matter  how  well  he  is,  how  glibly  he 
can  read,  or  how  large  his  fortune. 

Congressional  Record.    52:3064.    February  4,  1915 

Three  Veto   Messages 

1897 

I  herewith  return  without  approval  House  bill  No.  7864, 
entitled  "An  act  to  amend  the  immigration  laws  of  the  United 
States." 

By  the  first  section  of  this  bill  it  is  proposed  to  amend  section 
i  of  the  act  of  March  3,  1891,  relating  to  immigration  by  adding 
to  the  classes  of  aliens  thereby  excluded  from  admission  to  the 
United  States  the  following: 

All  persons  physically  capable  and  over  16  years  of.  age  who  cannot 
read  and  write  the  English  language  or  some  other  language;  but  a  person 
not  so  able  to  read  and  write  who  is  over  50  years  of  age  and  is  the  parent 
or  grandparent  of  a  qualified  immigrant  over  21  years  of  age  and  capable 
of  supporting  such  parent  or  grandparent  may  accompany  such  immigrant, 
or  such  a  parent  or  grandparent  may  be  sent  for  and  come  to  join  the 
family  of  a  child  or  grandchild  over  21  years  of  age  similarly  qualified  and 
capable,  and  a  wife  or  minor  child  not  so  able  to  read  and  write  may 
accompany  or  be  sent  for  and  come  and  join  the  husband  or  parent  similarly 
qualified  and  capable. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  223 

A  radical  departure  from  our  national  policy  relating  to 
immigration  is  here  presented.  Heretofore  we  have  welcomed 
all  who  came  to  us  from  other  lands  except  those  whose  moral 
or  physical  condition  or  history  threatened  danger  to  our  national 
welfare  and  safety.  Relying  upon  the  zealous  watchfulness  of 
our  people  to  prevent  injury  to  our  political  and  social  fabric, 
we  have  encouraged  those  coming  from  foreign  countries  to  cast 
their  lot  with  us  and  join  in  the  development  of  our  vast  domain, 
securing  in  return  a  share  in  the  blessings  of  American  citizen- 
ship. 

A  century's  stupendous  growth,  largely  due  to  the  assimilation 
and  thrift  of  millions  of  sturdy  and  patriotic  adopted  citizens, 
attests  the  success  of  this  generous  and  free-handed  policy 
which,  while  guarding  the  people's  interests,  exacts  from  our 
immigrants  only  physical  and  moral  soundness  and  a  willingness 
and  ability  to  work. 

A  contemplation  of  the  grand  results  of  this  policy  cannot 
fail  to  arouse  a  sentiment  in  its  defense,  for  however  it  might 
have  been  regarded  as  an  original  proposition  and  viewed  as 
an  experiment,  its  accomplishments  are  such  that  if  it  is  to  be 
uprooted  at  this  late  day  its  disadvantages  should  be  plainly 
apparent,  and  the  substitute  adopted  should  be  just  and  adequate, 
free  from  uncertainties,  and  guarded  against  difficult  or 
oppressive  administration. 

It  is  not  claimed.  I  believe,  that  the  time  has  come  for  the 
further  restriction  of  immigration  on  the  ground  that  an  excess 
of  population  overcrowds  our  land. 

It  is  said,  however,  that  the  quality  of  recent  immigration  is 
undesirable.  The  time  is  quite  within  recent  memory  when  the 
same  thing  was  said  of  immigrants  who,  with  their  descendants, 
are  now  numbered  among  our  best  citizens. 

It  is  said  that  too  many  immigrants  settle  in  our  cities,  thus 
dangerously  increasing  their  idle  and  vicious  population.  This 
is  certainly  a  disadvantage.  It  cannot  be  shown,  however,  that 
it  affects  all  our  cities,  nor  that  it  is  permanent ;  nor  does  it 
appear  that  this  condition  where  it  exists  demands  as  its  remedy 
the  reversal  of  our  present  immigration  policy. 

The  claim  is  also  made  that  the  influx  of  foreign  laborers 
deprives  of  the  opportunity  to  work  those  who  are  better  entitled 
than  they  to  the  privilege  of  earning  their  livelihood  by  daily  toil. 
An  unfortunate  condition  is  certainly  presented  when  any  who 


224  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

are  willing  to  labor  are  unemployed,  but  so  far  as  this  condition 
now  exists  among  our  people  it  must  be  conceded  to  be  a  result 
of  phenomenal  business  depression  and  the  stagnation  of  all 
enterprises  in  which  labor  is  a  factor.  With  the  advent  of  settled 
and  wholesome  financial  and  economic  governmental  policies  and 
consequent  encouragement  to  the  activity  of  capital  the  misfor- 
tunes of  unemployed  labor  should,  to  a  great  extent  at  least,  be 
remedied.  If  it  continues,  its  natural  consequences  must  be  to 
check  the  further  immigration  to  our  cities  of  foreign  laborers 
and  to  deplete  the  ranks  of  those  already  there.  In  the  meantime 
those  most  willing  and  best  entitled  ought  to  be  abfe  to  secure 
the  advantages  of  such  work  as  there  is  to  do. 

It  is  proposed  by  the  bill  under  consideration  to  meet  the 
alleged  difficulties  of  the  situation  by  establishing  an  educational 
test  by  which  the  right  of  a  foreigner  to  make  his  home  with  us 
shall  be  determined.  Its  general  scheme  is  to  prohibit  from 
admission  to  our  country  all  immigrants  "physically  capable 
and  over  sixteen  years  of  age  who  cannot  read  and  write  the 
English  language  or  some  other  language,"  and  it  is  provided 
that  this  test  shall  be  applied  by  requiring  immigrants  seeking 
admission  to  read  and  afterwards  to  write  not  less  than  twenty 
nor  more  than  twenty-five  words  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  in  some  language,  and  that  any  immigrant  failing 
in  this  shall  not  be  admitted,  but  shall  be  returned  to  the  country 
from  whence  he  came  at  the  expense  of  the  steamship  or  railroad 
company  which  brought  him. 

The  best  reason  that  could  be  given  for  this  radical  restriction 
of  immigration  is  the  necessity  of  protecting  our  population 
against  degeneration  and  saving  our  national  peace  and  quiet 
from  imported  turbulence  and  disorder. 

I  cannot  believe  that  we  would  be  protected  against  these 
•evils  by  limiting  immigration  to  those  who  can  read  and  write 
in  any  language  twenty-five  words  of  our  Constitution.  In  my 
opinion,  it  is  infinitely  more  safe  to  admit  a  hundred  thousand 
immigrants  who,  though  unable  to  read  and  write,  seek  among 
us  only  a  home  and  opportunity  to  work  than  to  admit  one  of 
those  unruly  agitators  and  enemies  of  governmental  control  who 
cannot  only  read  and  write,  but  delights  in  arousing  by  inflamma- 
tory speech  the  illiterate  and  peacefully  inclined  to  discontent  and 
tumult.  Violence  and  disorder  do  not  originate  with  illiterate 
laborers.  They  are,  rather,  the  victims  of  the  educated  agitator. 
The  ability  to  read  and  write,  as  required  in  this  bill,  in  and  of 


ON   IMMIGRATION  225 

itself,  affords,  in  my  opinion,  a  misleading  test  of  contented 
industry  and  supplies  unsatisfactory  evidence  of  desirable  citizen- 
ship or  a  proper  apprehension  of  the  benefits  of  our  institutions. 
If  any  particular  element  of  our  illiterate  immigration  is  to  be 
feared  for  other  causes  than  illiteracy,  these  causes  should  be 
dealt  with  directly,  instead  of  making  illiteracy  the  pretext  for 
exclusion,  to  the  detriment  of  other  illiterate  immigrants  against 
whom  the  real  cause  of  complaint  cannot  be  alleged. 

A  careful  examination  of  this  bill  has  convinced  me  that  for 
the  reasons  given  and  others  not  specifically  stated  its  provisions 
are  unnecessarily  harsh  and  oppressive  and  that  its  defects  in 
construction  would  cause  vexation  and  its  operation  would  result 
in  harm  to  our  citizens.  GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


I  return  herewith,  without  my  approval,  S.  31/5. 

I  do  this  with  great  reluctance.  The  bill  contains  many 
valuable  amendments  to  the  present  immigration  law  which  will 
insure  greater  certainty  in  excluding  undesirable  immigrants. 

The  bill  received  strong  support  in  both  Houses  and  was 
recommended  by  an  able  commission  after  an  extended  investi- 
gation and  carefully  drawn  conclusions. 

But  I  cannot  make  up  my  mind  to  sign  a  bill  which  in  its 
chief  provision  violates  a  principle  that  ought,  in  my  opinion, 
to  be  upheld  in  dealing  with  our  immigration.  I  refer  to  the 
literacy  test.  For  the  reasons  stated  in  Secretary  Nagel's  letter 
to  me,  I  cannot  approve  that  test.  WILLIAM  H.  TAFT. 

1915 

It  is  with  unaffected  regret  that  I  find  myself  constrained  by 
clear  conviction  to  return  this  bill  (H.  R.  6060,  an  act  to  regulate 
the  immigration  of  aliens  to  and  the  residence  of  aliens  in  the 
United  States),  without  my  signature. 

Not  only  do  I  feel  it  to  be  a  serious  matter  to  exercise  the 
power  of  veto  in  any  case,  because  it  involves  opposing  the  single 
judgment  of  the  president  to  the  judgment  of  a  majority  of  both 
houses  of  the  Congress,  a  step  which  no  man  who  realizes  his 
own  liability  to  error  can  take  without  great  hesitation,  but  also 
because  this  particular  bill  is  in  so  many  important  respects 
admirably  well-conceived  and  desirable. 

Its  enactment  into  law   would  undoubtedly  enhance  the  en> 


226  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

ciency  and  improve  the  methods  of  handling  the  important  branch 
of  the  public  service  to  which  it  relates,  but  candor  and  a  sense 
of  duty  with  regard  to  the  responsibility  so  clearly  imposed  upon 
me  by  the  constitution  in  matters  of  legislation,  leave  me  no 
choice  but  to  dissent. 

In  two  particulars  of  vital  consequence  this  bill  embodies  a 
radical  departure  from  the  traditional  and  long-established  policy 
of  this  country,  a  policy  in  which  our  people  have  conceived  the 
very  character  of  their  government  to  be  expressed,  the  very 
mission  and  spirit  of  the  nation  in  respect  of  its  relations  to  the 
peoples  of  the  world  outside  their  borders. 

It  seeks  to  all  but  close  entirely  the  gates  of  asylum  which 
have  always  been  open  to  those  who  could  find  nowhere  else  the 
right  and  opportunity  of  constitutional  agitation  for  what  they 
conceived  to  be  the  natural  and  inalienable  rights  of  men ;  and 
it  excludes  those  to  whom  the  opportunities  of  elementary  edu- 
cation have  been  denied  without  regard  to  their  character,  their 
purposes  or  their  natural  capacity. 

Restrictions  like  these  adopted  earlier  in  our  history  as  a 
nation  would  very  materially  have  altered  the  course  and  cooled 
the  humane  ardors  of  our  politics.  The  right  of  political  asylum 
has  brought  to  this  country  many  a  man  of  noble  character  and 
elevated  purpose  who  was  marked  as  an  outlaw  in  his  own  less 
fortunate  land  and  who  has  yet  become  an  ornament  to  our 
citizenship  and  to  our  public  councils. 

The  children  and  the  compatriots  of  these  illustrious  Ameri- 
cans must  stand  amazed  to  see  the  representatives  of  their  nation 
now  resolved,  in  the  fulness  of  our  national  strength  and  at  the 
maturity  of  our  great  institutions,  to  risk  turning  such  men  back 
from  our  shores  without  test  of  quality  or  of  purpose.  It  is 
difficult  for  me  to  believe  that  the  full  effect  of  this  feature  of  the 
bill  was  realized  when  it  was  framed  and  adopted,  and  it  is 
impossible  for  me  to  assent  to  it  in  the  form  in  which  it  is  here 
cast. 

The  literacy  test  and  the  tests  and  restrictions  which  accom- 
pany it  constitute  an  even  more  radical  change  in  the  policy  of 
the  nation.  Hitherto  we  have  generously  kept  our  borders  open 
to  all  who  were  not  unfitted  by  reason  of  disease  or  incapacity 
for  self-support,  or  such  personal  records  and  antecedents  as 
were  likely  to  make  them  a  menace  to  our  peace  and  order  or  to 
the  wholesome  and  essential  relationships  of  life.  In  this  bill 


ON  IMMIGRATION  227 

it  is  proposed  to  turn  away  from  tests  of  character  and  of 
quality  and  to  impose  tests  which  exclude  and  restrict;  for  the 
new.  tests  here  embodied  are  not  tests  of  quality  or  of  character 
or  of  personal  fitness,  but  tests  of  opportunity.  Those  who  come 
seeking  opportunity  are  not  to  be  admitted  unless  they  have 
already  had  one  of  the  chief  of  the  opportunities  they  seek — the 
opportunity  of  education.  The  object  of  such  provisions  is 
restriction,  not  selection. 

If  the  people  of  this  country  have  made  up  their  minds  to 
limit  the  number  of  immigrants  by  arbitrary  tests  and  so  reverse 
the  policy  of  all  the  generations  of  Americans  that  have  gone 
before  them,  it  is  their  right  to  do  so.  I  am  their  servant  and 
have  no  license  to  stand  in  their  way.  But  I  do  not  believe  that 
they  have.  I  respectfully  submit  that  no  one  can  quote  their 
mandate  to  that  effect.  Has  any  political  party  ever  avowed  a 
policy  of  restriction  in  this  fundamental  matter,  gone  to  the 
country  on  it,  and  then  been  commissioned  to  control  its  legis- 
lation? Does  this  bill  rest  upon  the  conscious  and  universal 
assent  and  desire  of  the  American  people?  I  doubt  it.  It  is 
because  I  doubt  it  that  I  make  bold  to  dissent  from  it.  I  am 
willing  to  abide  by  the  verdict,  but  not  until  it  has  been  rendered. 
Let  the  platforms  of  parties  speak  out  upon  this  policy  and  the 
people  pronounce  their  wish.  The  matter  is  too  fundamental  to 
be  settled  otherwise. 

I  have  no  pride  of  opinion  on  this  question.  I  am  not  foolish 
enough  to  profess  to  know  the  wishes  and  ideals  of  America 
better  than  the  body  of  her  chosen  representatives  know  them. 
I  only  want  instruction  direct  from  those  whose  fortunes  with 
ours  and  all  men's  are  involved.  WOODROW  WILSON. 


North  American  Review.    201:347-50.    March,  1915 

Bogy  of  Alien  Illiteracy.     George  Harvey 

The  President's  veto  of  the  immigration  bill,  happily  effective, 
should  serve  a  double  purpose.  It  should  put  an  end  to  the 
mistaken  effort  to  debar  from  this  country  otherwise  acceptable 
immigrants  on  the  sole  ground  of  illiteracy,  and  it  should  lead  to 
a  general  recognition  of  the  unjust  and  unreasonable  character 
of  that  effort.  We  may  unhesitatingly  concede  that  illiteracy  is 
an  evil,  and  that  unrestricted  immigration  is  or  would  be  an 

15 


228  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

evil.  But  the  evil  of  illiteracy  is  not  to  be  abolished  by  excluding 
immigrants  who  cannot  read  and  write,  and  the  worst  evils  of 
promiscuous  immigration  are  not  to  be  corrected  by  making 
literacy  the  test  for  admission.  The  illiterates  are  not,  per  se,  the 
worst  class  of  undesirables.  The  most  serious  evil  lies  in  the 
entrance  to  this  country  of  wastrels,  of  degenerates,  of  the 
physically  and  mentally  infirm ;  above  all,  of  the  morally  corrupt. 
No  rational  man  should  object  to  the  strictest  possible  exclusion 
of  these.  But  there  should  be  no  hesitation  in  preferring  an 
immigrant  who  is  technically  illiterate,  yet  actually  intelligent, 
honest,  and  industrious,  to  one  who  is  stupid,  dishonest,  and 
lazy,  though  gifted  with  all  the  technical  scholarship  of  the 
academic  curriculum. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  too,  that  illiteracy  is  not  merely 
an  imported  thing.  It  bears  the  stamp  "Made  in  America,"  too. 
Indeed,  there  is  vastly  more  native  than  naturalized  illiteracy,  if 
we  take  our  whole  population  into  the  reckoning;  and  there  is 
nearly  as  much  native  as  naturalized  if  we  have  regard  to  only 
the  white  race.  According  to  the  census  of  1910  the  numbers 
of  illiterates  above  the  age  of  ten  years  were  as  follows: 

Negroes,   American  born 2,227,731 

Whites,  American  born 1,534,272 

Whites,    foreign   born 1,650,361 

Thus  there  were  almost  as  many  white  native  Americans 
illiterate  as  there  were  illiterate  immigrants.  True,  the  propor- 
tion of  the  former  to  the  whole  was  far  less  than  of  the  latter. 
Yet  in  at  least  one  state  the  percentage  of  illiterate  native  white 
people  was  considerably  greater  than  the  percentage  of  illiterate 
immigrants  in  the  whole  country.  In  Louisiana  no  fewer  than 
15  per  cent  of  the  native  whites  above  the  age  of  ten  were 
illiterate,  while  in  the  whole  United  States  only  12.7  per  cent  of 
immigrants  suffered  that  disability.  Of  course,  it  might  be  argued 
that  if  we  have  so  many  illiterates  of  our  own,  there  is  the  more 
cause  for  excluding  those  of  other  lands  who  seek  to  come 
thither.  But  there  would  be  to  this  the  ready  and  effective  reply 
that  we  are  sorely  disqualified  for  casting  contumelious  and 
condemnatory  stones  at  the  unfortunate  of  other  countries. 

There  is  the  more  force  in  this  latter  contention  because  of 
the  fact  that  native  illiteracy  is  commonly  self-propagating,  while 
alien  illiteracy  is  not.  Our  native  illiterates  too  often  bring  up 
their  children  as  illiterates,  while  illiterate  immigrants  do  not. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  229 

That  is  indeed  one  of  the  most  impressive  circumstances  of  the 
whole  case.  The  average  native  illiterate  is  the  child  of  an  illiter- 
ate. But  the  illiterate  immigrant  almost  invariably  takes  pains 
to  have  his  children  educated.  The  result  is  that  the  children  of 
immigrants  are  the  most  generally  literate  class  of  our  entire 
population.  Here  are  the  percentages  of  illiteracy  among  adults 
in  1910: 

Negroes,    American    born 30.4 

Whites,    foreign    born 12.7 

Whites,    American    born    of    American    parents 3.7 

Whites,   American   born    of   immigrant    parents i.i 

Thus  the  illiterate  children  of  immigrants  were  less  than 
one-third  as  many,  proportionately,  as  the  illiterate  children  of 
native  Americans.  What  is  the  natural  and  inevitable  deduction  ? 
Why,  that  illiterate  immigration,  while  a  present  evil,  assures  a 
much  greater  future  good.  It  increases  for  the  present  the  sum 
total  of  illiteracy  in  the  nation,  but  promises  in  the  next  gen- 
eration to  decrease  its  proportion.  It  means  a  present  generation 
of  illiterates,  but  a  coming  generation  of  literates. 


THE  EUROPEAN  WAR  AND  IMMIGRATION 

Immigrants  in  America  Review.    1:9-10.    March,  1915 

A  Domestic  Policy.    Frances  Kellor 

For  the  first  time  in  many  years  this  country  is  free  from  the 
absorbing  demand  made  by  the  entrance  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  immigrants  yearly.  Now  is  the  time  to  take  up  the 
conditions  of  the  nearly  thirteen  million  foreign  born  in  this 
country  and  to  formulate  and  execute  the  measures  necessary 
for  the  welfare  of  the  country.  Now  is  the  time  to  establish 
adequate  machinery  for  dealing  intelligently  and  efficiently  with 
increased  immigration  after  the  war.  In  the  meantime,  the 
unguided  child-workers,  the  children  out  of  school,  the  illiterate 
parents,  the  thousands  of  unnaturalized,  the  unemployed,  the 
congested  cities  and  deserted  farms,  the  isolated  colonies,  the 
padroni,  the  precarious  institutions  for  savings  and  investments, 
— these  and  many  other  matters  require  national  consideration 
and  action. 

New  Republic,   i:  10-1.   December  26,  1914 

Wanted — An  Immigration  Policy 

The  theory  of  an  automatic  drying  up  of  the  sources  of 
immigration  has  been  emphasized  more  strongly  than  ever  since 
the  outbreak  of  the  war.  Already  the  westward  tide  ebbs,  and 
in  October  only  30,000  immigrant  aliens  arrived  as  compared  with 
134,000  in  October  of  last  year.  If  the  war  lasts  a  year  or  more, 
millions  will  be  killed  by  wounds,  famine  and  disease,  and  other 
millions  will  be  permanently  incapacitated. 

But  even  though  population  does  decline,  it  does  not  follow 
that  the  emigrating  impulse  will  be  lessened.  The  rapid  decrease 
in  the  Irish  population  during  the  half  century  after  the  famine 
did  not  retard  but  actually  accelerated  the  emigration.  It  is  not 
from  countries  with  lessened  populations  but  from  countries  with 
lessened  economic  opportunities  that  emigration  proceeds.  And 


232  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

it  is  exactly  this  lessening  of  economic  opportunities  that  we 
have  to  fear  as  a  result  of  the  war.  The  delicate,  intricate  indus- 
trial system  by  which  we  all  live  will  be  deranged.  Capital  will 
be  dissipated,  credit  shattered,  and  whole  trades,  the  learning  of 
which  has  cost  years  of  arduous  labor,  will  be  for  the  time 
discontinued.  The  system  will  accommodate  itself  only  slowly 
to  the  sudden  withdrawal,  and  later  the  sudden  replacement  of 
millions  of  wage-earners. 

If  then,  as  is  to  be  feared,  new  armies  of  ragged  and  unem- 
ployed men  are  to  be  enrolled  as  soon  as  the  armies  in  uniform 
are  disbanded,  if  wages  fall  and  life  becomes  insecure,  the  out- 
ward pressure  upon  the  huge  wage-earning  populations  of  Europe 
will  be  overwhelming,  and  those  ,who  have  the  means  will  seek 
to  emigrate.  There  will  be  restless  millions  of  former  wage- 
earners  in  whom  the  fierce  emotions  of  war  have  made  an  end 
to  all  those  industrial  ambitions  and  acquiescences  so  habitually 
ignored  or  disesteemed,  and  yet  vitally  essential  to  the  mere 
existence  of  society.  Others,  having  lost  their  farms  or  their 
little  shops  and  houses,  or  their  wives  and  families,  and  still 
others  who  have  had  their  country  and  their  patriotism  swept 
away  from  under  their  feet,  in  fact  all  who  have  had  the  thin 
thread  of  custom  snapped,  will  be  discontented  and  mobile.  The 
world  will  be  full  of  foot-loose  adventurers,  good  and  bad,  filled 
with  romantic  illusions  or  else  utterly  disenchanted,  and  to  these 
broken  lives  America  will  appeal  with  a  freshness  of  attraction 
such  as  she  has  not  possessed  since  the  days  of  '48,  when  the 
defeated  revolutionists  of  Germany  turned  westward  to  a  land 
which  to  them  embodied  the  liberal  principles  for  which  they  had 
struggled,  the  land  of  freedom,  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed  and 
the  defeated  of  all  the  world. 

And  recalling,  as  we  must,  this  high  reverence  for  the  America 
of  that  day,  and  this  ideal  picture  of  her  which  may  still  be 
found  in  the  hearts  of  boys  risking  their  lives  in  the  cold 
trenches — recalling  this,  does  it  seem  sinister  to  close  the  doors 
upon  this  misery,  to  make  the  wretchedness  of  the  European 
our  excuse  for  debarring  him?  It  may  be  sinister.  Yet  what 
else  has  been  or  can  be  the  justification  of  that  policy  of  self- 
defense  which  we  seek  to  express  in  some  adequate  restriction  or 
regulation  of  a  swelling  immigration?  Wretchedness  is  infectious, 
and  no  contagion  is  more  deadly  than  that  of  poverty.  It  is  the 
poverty  and  the  resourcelessness  of  the  immigrant,  which,  hand- 
ing him  over  to  the  exploiter,  renders  him  so  dangerous  to  him- 


ON  IMMIGRATION  233 

self  and  others.  We  need  not  enter  upon  the  enumeration  of  that 
long  calendar  of  social  diseases — ignorance,  congestion,  low 
wages,  long  hours,  political  corruption,  divided  counsels  and  so 
many,  many  others,  to  the  propagation  of  which  the  alien,  espe- 
cially when  impoverished,  so  innocently  contributes.  To  justify 
a  policy  of  regulation  we  need  only  oppose  the  wisdom  of  facing 
problems  concretely  and  courageously  to  the  folly  of  leaving 
things  as  they  are.  If  we  are  to  protect  ourselves  and  the  immi- 
grant from  exploitation,  impoverishment  and  a  fierceness  and 
lawlessness  of  economic  struggle,  which  too  often  brands  the 
victor  with  an  indelible  brand  and  leaves  the  victim  crushed  and 
demoralized,  if  not  actually  dead,  we  must  work  out  a  states- 
manlike policy  of  immigration,  and  end  our  listless  method  of 
sitting  grandiloquently  at  the  gate  and  letting  all  enter,  irre- 
spective of  their  needs  or  ours,  provided  only  they  have  $30 
and  ungranulated  eyelids. 


Survey.     34: 153-4,  May  15,  1915 

Immigration  That  May  Come  from  Russia  After  the  War. 
Leo     Pasvolsky 

Suppose  the  European  war  were  to  be  brought  to  an  end  next 
week  or  next  month.  What  would  be  the  state  of  affairs  in 
Europe,  especially  as  emigration  to  the  United  States  would  be 
affected?  What  course  would  the  influx  of  human  material  into 
this  country,  forcibly  interrupted  by  the  war,  take,  should  this 
interruption  be  removed? 

As  far  as  future  emigration  to  America  is  concerned,  Europe 
may  be  considered  as  three  divisions.  The  first  would  include 
the  neutral  .countries,  which  have  succeeded  in  avoiding  the  war. 
The  second  would  include  those  belligerents,  who,  for  certain 
reasons,  will  do  everything  in  their  power  to  keep  every  unit  of 
their  population  at  home,  and  the  third,  the  rest  of  the  belliger- 
ents. 

The  countries  of  southern  Europe,  with  the  unimportant  ex- 
ceptions of  Servia  and  Montenegro  (Turkey  being  left  altogether 
out  of  account  in  this  connection)  as  well  as  the  Scandinavian 
countries  of  the  north,  have  so  far  remained  neutral.  If  they 
continue  to  remain  so,  then  the  re-establishment  of  peace  will 
find  them  in  fairly  normal  conditions.  The  one  problem  will  be 
the  large  part  of  the  industrial  population  which  had  been  diverted 


234  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

into  the  mobilized  army.  However,  no  section  of  these  countries 
has  suffered  actual  disaster,  and  the  resumption  of  normal 
activities  will  not  be  very  difficult.  Therefore,  the  emigration 
from  these  countries  will  be  practically  the  same  as  before  the 
war,  if  it  is  not  less. 

The  countries  which  will  seek  to  restrain  emigration  will 
include  England,  France  and  Germany.  Under  normal  conditions 
these  countries  are  not  over-populated  and,  in  addition,  are  well 
organized  industrially.  Before  the  war,  they  contributed  little 
to  the  ranks  of  immigrants  that  came  to  the  United  States ;  after 
the  war,  they  may  be  expected  to  contribute  nothing  at  all. 
These  countries  will  need  every  man  of  their  population  to 
bring  their  industrial  systems  back  to  their  usual  efficiency,  and 
government  regulation  will  probably  be  brought  into  play,  should 
any  noticeable  movement  for  emigration  begin. 

Of  the  other  belligerents,  Austria-Hungary  and  Russia  have 
a  large  population,  and  both  are  poorly  organized  industrially. 
These  two  conditions  were  largely  responsible  for  the  heavy 
emigration  from  these  countries  before  the  war. 

While  our  chief  concern,  in  this  connection,  is  with  Russia, 
it  may  be  noted,  in  passing,  that  the  government  of  the  dual 
monarchy  is  even  now  attempting  to  improve  the  industrial 
situation  by  protecting  the  money  standards  of  the  country.  This 
fact  may  serve  as  a  portent  of  the  future  attitude,  if  war  does 
not  change  materially  the  status  of  the  empire. 

As  far  as  Russia  is  concerned,  her  industrial  life  has  never 
been  well  organized,  and  the  war  showed  that  such  organization 
as  existed  was  almost  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  Germans. 
Actual  war  operations  have  affected  some  of  the  most  highly 
efficient  manufacturing  centers  of  Russia,  viz.,  Poland,  and  has 
disorganized  the  economic  life  of  the  whole  southern  part  of  the 
country.  But  the  war  also  made  evident  the  part  Germany  played 
in  the  industrial  life  of  Russia.  When  trade  with  Germany 
ceased  and  when,  as  a  result  of  the  state  of  war  that  existed 
between  the  two  countries,  German  subjects  were  compelled  to 
leave  Russia,  it  suddenly  became  apparent  that  practically  all 
industries  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Germans.  Even  now,  after 
eight  months  of  the  war,  the  indications  are  that  the  industries 
of  Russia  are  still  thoroughly  disorganized. 

Unemployment  in  Russia  is  acute.  It  has  been  calculated  that 
the  mere  suspension  of  the  distilling  industry  has  left  about  a 


ON  IMMIGRATION  235 

hundred  thousand  men  out  of  work  in  Petrograd  alone.  Part  of 
this  is,  of  course,  accounted  for  by  the  prohibition  of  the  sale  of 
intoxicants. 

The  introduction  of  temperance  is,  undoubtedly,  a  splendid 
thing,  but  there  are  grave  economic  problems  connected  with  it; 
one  of  these  is  the  necessity  of  diverting  the  men  employed  in 
the  suspended  industry  to  other  channels.  It  has  never  been  the 
policy  of  the  Russian  government  to  encourage  or  aid  the  indus- 
trial development  of  the  country.  As  an  example  of  this  may  be 
cited  the  actions  of  the  ministry  of  finance  in  1901-02,  when  the 
government  deliberately  wrecked  the  metallurgical  industries  of 
southern  Russia. 

There  are  no  indications  that  this  policy  has  changed.  At 
present  the  cotton  goods  industry,  whose  product  is  used  in 
immense  quantities  in  Russia,  is  practically  at  a  standstill,  because 
the  importation  of  raw  materials  has  almost  ceased.  The  removal 
of  this  obstacle  lies  in  the  hands  of  the  government,  as  its  chief 
cause  is  the  lack  of  credits  abroad  and  the  lack  of  foreign  specie 
in  Russia,  which  renders  the  international  import  deals  so  un- 
profitable as  to  make  them  almost  impossible.  Several  requests 
for  foreign  specie  have  come  from  the  cotton  goods  manufactur- 
ers, the  amount  needed  having  been  calculated  to  be  approxi- 
mately 70,000,000  roubles,  but  the  government  has  refused  prac- 
tically every  request.  The  last  refusal  was  made  quite  recently. 

In  order  even  to  resume  the  nation's  industrial  life,  the 
Russian  government  would  have  to  grant  additional  rights  to 
those  people  who  are  capable  of  organizing  the  industries  on  a 
commercial  basis,  especially  to  the  Jews.  But  the  government 
has,  as  yet,  given  no  indication  of  its  intention  to  change  its 
Jewish  policy.  Thus,  it  is  more  than  likely  that  the  Russian 
government  itself  will  eliminate  the  Russian  factors  that  might 
be  working  for  the  industrial  development  of  Russia. 

Germans  and  other  Europeans  will  undoubtedly  be  too  busy 
at  home  reorganizing  their  own  industries  to  consider  Russian 
problems.  In  this  event,  if  even  the  Russian  government  should 
consent  to  having  the  Germans  resume  control  of  Russian  indus- 
tries, of  which  they  had  full  sway  before  the  war,  the  Germans 
themselves  will  scarcely  be  either  able  or  willing  to  do  so. 

This,  of  course,  opens  an  opportunity  to  American  capital. 
Generally,  however,  Americans  know  so  little  about  Russia  that 
there  will  scarcely  be  an  extensive  movement  of  American  capital 


236  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

to  Russia.  It  is  more  likely  that  Americans  will  prefer  to  remain 
at  home  and  have  Russian  labor  come  over.  This  would  mean 
that  after  the  war  Russian  emigration  to  America  will  become 
more  Ixtensive  than  before. 

The  Russian  government  will  be  confronted  after  the  war 
with  unemployment  of  such  wide  prevalence  as  to  make  all  other 
out-of-work  problems  we  know  of  sink  into  insignificance.  And 
it  certainly  will  not  be  a  paying  proposition  to  keep  this  huge 
army  of  the  unemployed  within  the  empire,  awaiting  the  slow 
industrial  development  characteristic  of  Russia. 

It  is  probable  that  the  government  will  throw  no  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  emigration,  as  it  threw  no  obstacle  in  its  way  after 
the  Russo-Japanese  war  and  during  the  years  that  followed. 
The  Russian  population  is  enormous  in  comparison  with  the 
utterly  inefficient  industrial  organization  of  the  country.  This 
state  of  affairs  must  produce,  after  the  war,  a  large  unemployed 
surplus  of  population  that  will  either  have  to  starve  or  emigrate. 
The  latter  course  is  more  likely  than  the  first. 

A  peculiar  feature  of  this  war  is  the  fact  that  there  is  pre- 
sumably no  desertion  in  the  Russian  army,  while  during  the 
Russo-Japanese  war,  there  was  a  great  deal  of  desertion.  This 
is  partly  because  the  war  is  "nearer  home"  now  than  it  was  ten 
years  ago,  and  therefore  patriotism  is  stronger,  but  mostly  be- 
cause Russia  is  so  bottled  up  that  there  is  no  path  open  for 
escaping  abroad.  Ten  years  ago,  the  deserters  crossed  the  Ger- 
man border  and  went  to  America  through  Hamburg,  Bremen  and 
the  other  great  German  ports.  Today,  this  is  obviously  impos- 
sible. 

However,  if  the  allied  fleet  succeeds  in  forcing  the  Darda- 
nelles, things  will  probably  begin  to  assume  a  new  aspect.  Unless 
Rumania  is  forced  into  the  war,  it  will  not  be  very  difficult  for 
Russian  deserters  to  cross  the  Rumanian  border  and  thence  make 
their  way  to  the  Greek  or  Italian  ports,  from  which  the  way  to 
America  would  be  open.  Moreover,  the  opening  of  the  Darda- 
nelles will  undoubtedly  bring  about  direct  commercial  relations 
between  American  ports  and  Odessa.  It  would  be  very  easy  to 
divert  to  this  service  some  of  the  English  liners,  as  well  as  the 
boats  of  the  Russian-American  line. 

,  The    establishment   of    such    a    direct   communication    route 
through  a  very  convenient,  as   far  as  railroad  connections  are 


ON  IMMIGRATION  23? 

concerned,  Russian  port,  will  make  it  possible  for  many  persons 
to  leave  the  country,  if  they  so  desire. 

These  predictions,  while  partly  theoretical  and  speculative, 
are  thoroughly  in  keeping  with  what  we  know  of  Russia  in  the 
past  and  the  information  we  get  about  her  in  the  present. 

All  signs  seem  to  indicate  that  in  a  very  short  time  the  Ellis 
Island  officials  will  have  to  resume  some  of  their  work,  and  that 
the  cessation  of  hostilities  will  bring  on  a  new  flood  of  immigra- 
tion, the  bulk  of  which  will  come  from  Russia. 

Outlook.  113: 1023-4.    August  30,  1916 
Immigration  of  the  Year 

Two  years  have  now  passed  since  the  beginning  of  the  war. 
Immigration  still  is  drastically  curtailed. 

While  the  net  immigration  in  the  year  which  closed  July  I 
was  125,941,  as  compared  with  50,070  in  1915,  the  actual  number 
of  aliens  who  applied  for  admission,  366,748,  was  smaller  than 
in  the  previous  year  by  approximately  70,000.  The  reason  for  the 
greater  actual  increase  in  the  alien  population  is  due  to  the 
smaller  number  of  those  returning  home.  Immigration,  of 
course,  was  largely  from  countries  having  access  to  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  Nine  racial  groups — Dutch,  Flemish,  English,  French, 
Irish,  Finnish,  Scandinavian,  Scotch,  and  German — furnished 
nearly  one-half  of  the  immigrants,  the  remainder  being  scattered 
through  thirty-one  racial  classifications.  The  chief  contributions, 
aside  from  those  of  northwestern  Europe,  were  Italian,  Greek, 
Portuguese,  Spanish,  and  Mexican.  With  the  exception  of  the 
Italian,  the  totals  of  these  nationalities  were  relatively  high. 
Never  before  in  a  single  year  have  so  many  Portuguese  emi- 
grated to  the  United  States.  There  were  about  13,000  of  them, 
which  was  also  the  number  of  Spaniards.  There  were  more 
than  22,000  Mexicans. 

VThe  effect  of  the  continued  curtailment  of  immigration  has 
been  felt  particularly  in  the  labor  market.  Unskilled  workers 
have  been  in  such  demand  that  they  have  been  able  to  get  em- 
ployment at  wages  ranging  from  $2.25  to  $2.50  for  an  eight-hour 
day,  while  available  household  servants  have  been  asking  and 
receiving  a  fifty  per  cent  increase  over  the  wages  paid  a  year  agoK 


238  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

Some  railway  companies  have  been  employing  Southern  Negroes 
and  Mexicans  in  place  of  the  Italian  and  Polish  track  hands  who 
have  left  them  to  fight  for  their  native  country  or  to  secure 
higher  wages.  Farm  labor  has  gone  up  fifty  per  cent.  The  ap- 
plications for  help  received  by  social  relief  organizations  in  New 
York  City  have  fallen  to  less  than  half  the  total  of  a  year  ago. 
Most  of  the  requests  for  relief  have  been  due  to  illness,  acci- 
dents, and  for  the  care  of  alien  widows. 

American  steamship  agents  are  forecasting  an  exodus  of  at 
least  1,000,000  Hungarians,  Poles,  Austrians,  Lithuanians,  Bohe- 
mians, Germans,  and  other  natives  of  Central  Europe  as  soon  as 
peace  is  declared.  Their  estimate  is  based  on  reports  from  sub- 
agents  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  who  say  that  many  are 
making  deposits  and  saving  money  for  the  purchase  of  tickets. 
These  prospective  emigrant  aliens  are  anxious  to  see  relatives 
and  friends  from  whom  they  have  heard  little  since  the  war 
broke  out,  and  to  look  after  property.  Many  of  them — one-half, 
it  is  estimated — will  remain  to  help  rebuild  their  native  coun- 
tries. For  this  reason  it  is  believed  that,  with  the  exception  of 
the  harassed  Jews  of  the  Pale  and  Poland,  there  will  be  a  small 
emigration  to  America. 


Scribner's  Magazine.  58:635-9.     November,  1915 

Immigration  After  the  War.    Frederic  C.  Howe 

The  results  of  the  war  are  a  subject  of  conjecture.  It  is 
claimed  by  some  that,  irrespective  of  the  outcome,  European 
nations  will  gird  their  loins  to  repair  the  ravages  of  the  war. 
They  will  prohibit  emigration  in  so  far  as  they  can. 

By  others  it  is  claimed  that  millions  will  flee  the  Old  World 
to  avoid  militaristic  conditions ;  they  will  seek  to  escape  the  bur- 
dens of  taxation ;  they  will  be  driven  by  want  and  despair  to 
find  a  freer  home  in  a  new  land. 

Both  of  these  conjectures  are  probably  in  part  correct:  Im- 
migration from  some  countries  will  cease,  while  immigration 
from  other  countries  will  be  accelerated.  New  currents  will  be 
set  in  motion  that  will  change  the  character  of  immigration,  as 
well  as  its  volume.  New  social  necessities  will  change  the  func- 
tions of  government,  while  the  war  itself  will  profoundly  alter 
human  psychology,  which,  in  turn,  will  profoundly  affect  the  new 


ON  IMMIGRATION  239 

Volkerwanderung  which  for  at  least  twenty  centuries  has  been 
moving  steadily  toward  the  west. 

It  is  safe  to  assume  that  Germany  will  permit  as  few  of  her 
people  to  migrate  as  possible.  Germany  is  the  most  socialized 
state  in  the  modern  world.  The  traditions  of  the  state  are  those 
of  paternalism,  which  the  war  has  carried  to  far  greater  ex- 
tremes than  prevailed  in  time  of  peace.  UnctoJ)tedly,  when  the 
war  is  over,  the  existing  militaristic  organization  will  be  applied 
to  reconstruction,  and  every  effort  will  be  bent  to  recapture  the 
trade  that  has  been  lost,  to  regain  a  position  on  the  seas,  and  to 
rebuild  the  fatherland. 

The  same  forces  will  be  set  in  motion  in  England.  The  war 
has  changed  the  old  individualism  which  has  dominated  English 
thought  since  the  time  of  Napoleon.  It  has  altered  the  negative 
philosophy  of  Adam  Smith,  Ricardo,  and  Herbert  Spencer,  who 
have  insisted  that  the  state  should  keep  out  of  industry  and  inter- 
fere with  its  operations  as  little  as  possible.  Great  Britain  will 
find  it  impossible  to  go  back  to  the  individualism  of  former  days 
when  the  war  is  over.  Her  necessities  will  be  as  great  as  those 
of  Germany.  She,  too,  will  direct  her  energies  to  an  industrial 
rehabilitation,  in  which  she  will  have  the  backing  of  the  large 
labor  group  in  the  nation.  'Great  Britain,  like  Germany,  will  seek 
to  keep  her  people  at  home. 

State  socialism  on  an  unprecedented  scale  will  undoubtedly 
be  one  of  the  by-products  of  the  war  all  over  Europe. 

In  addition  to  the  efforts  of  the  state,  the  loss  of  from 
6,000,000  to  10,000,000  able-bodied  men  will  create  a  labor 
vacuum.  Mills,  mines,  and* factories  will  find  difficulty  in  secur- 
ing employees ;  the  farms  will  be  denuded  of  men.  Eastern 
Europe  has  been  overrun  by  armies,  as  has  northern  France. 
This  shortage  of  labor,  together  'with  the  efforts  of  the  nations 
to  quickly  rebuild  their  industries,  will  lead  to  an  increase  in 
wages,  an  increase  that  is  inevitable.  In  addition  to  this,  all 
life  has  been  disorganized,  and  men  will  return  to  their  work 
with  old  traditions  destroyed  and  a  new  sense  of  individual 
power. 

Under  these  conditions  wages  may  rise  very  rapidly.  They 
may  rise  to  something  like  a  parity  with  wages  in  the  United 
States.  This  will  keep  men  at  home.  It  may  bring  about  a 
reversal  of  the  immigration  current  and  lure  workers  to  these 
countries  from  America.  For  along  with  the  stream  of  incom- 


240  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

ing  aliens  there  is  always  a  counter-current  of  outgoing  ones. 
Between  300,000  and  400,000  aliens  leave  America  each  year  to 
return  to  their  native  lands.  They  take  with  them  their  accumu- 
lations. They  acquire  small  holdings,  they  open  shops,  and  spend 
the  balance  of  their  life  in  their  old  home  surroundings.  There 
is  no  indissoluble  affection  on  the  part  of  many  foreigners  for 
America.  And,  with  wage  conditions  improved,  there  is  no  rea- 
son why  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  more  recent  arrivals,  who 
have  not  taken  root  in  this  country,  should  not  return  to  their 
native  lands  under  more  favorable  economic  and  social  condi- 
tions. 

These  are  some  of  the  forces  which  will  tend  to  check  immi- 
gration, and  the  most  desirable  immigration.  It  will  keep  the 
able-bodied,  the  well  and  strong,  at  home,  who  have  always  been 
welcome  to  America  and  who  have  contributed  so  much  to  our 
industrial  development. 

But  while  state  action,  the  re-establishment  of  industry,  and 
a  labor  vacuum  will  keep  many  men  and  women  at  home,  other 
forces  will  be  set  in  motion  which  will  drive  them  to  this  coun- 
try. They  may  come  in  such  numbers  as  to  create  the  most 
serious  immigration  problem  we  have  ever  had,  and  one  that  will 
tax  our  sympathies  and  emotions  far  more  than  the  individual 
cases  that  now  present  themselves  to  the  immigration  authorities. 
In  the  first  place,  there  will  probably  be  from  6,000,000  to 
10,000,000  widows  or  dependent  women  left  husbandless,  father- 
less, and  destitute  by  the  war.  Possibly  twice  as  many  children 
will  be  bereft  of  their  providers.  Many  of  them  will  have  lost 
their  homes ;  they  will  not  be  wanted  by  any  of  the  contending 
nations.  They  will  be  an  additional  burden  in  the  period  of 
reconstruction.  Millions  of  these  women  and  children  have 
friends  and  relatives  in  the  United  States  to  whom  they  will 
extend  appealing  arms.  This  is  especially  true  of  Russia,  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, Poland,  Italy,  and  the  Balkans.  All  of  these 
nations,  in  addition,  with  the  exception  of  Italy,  have  been  rav- 
ished by  the  war;  in  some  parts  the  entire  country  has  been  laid 
waste. 

War  is  always  hardest  on  the  Jews.  They  have  no  voice  in 
the  government.  They  are  subjects  of  personal  and  official  per- 
secution. And  the  centres  of  Jewish  emigration  are  in  the  east- 
ern war  zone.  Jewish  immigration  to  this  country  is  assisted, 
as  is  that  of  other  nations,  by  friends  already  in  the  country, 


ON  IMMIGRATION  241 

who  give  generously  to  the  oppressed  of  their  race  and  have 
organized  agencies  for  the  distribution  of  incoming  Jews  and 
the  finding  of  places  of  employment  for  them.  The  stories  of 
Jewish  outrages  have  quickened  the  ready  sympathies  of  the 
American  Jew,  and  undoubtedly  when  the  censorship  is  raised 
and  the  stories  of  atrocities  find  their  way  to  this  country  Jew- 
ish immigration  will  be  stimulated  at  a  more  rapid  rate  than 
ever  before. 

Immigration  from  southern  Europe  will  probably  continue  to 
predominate  and  will  probably  increase  in  volume.  Italy,  Austria- 
Hungary,  Russia,  and  the  Balkan  states  are  not  as  efficiently 
organized  as  are  Germany,  England,  and  France.  They  are  not 
experienced  in  state  or  socialized  effort.  These  are  peasant  coun- 
tries with  but  few  large  cities.  A  great  majority  of  the  people 
live  upon  the  land,  much  of  which  has  been  fought  over  and 
from  which  the  horses  and  live  stock  and  growing  crops  have 
been  requisitioned,  so  that  it  will  be  almost  impossible  to  re- 
establish agriculture  for  many  years  to  come.  Hope  in  these 
countries  will  be  at  a  low  ebb,  while  a  large  part  of  the  able- 
bodied  population  will  be  gone.  Already  in  many  sections  only 
old  women  and  children  remain.  There  will  undoubtedly  be  a 
heavy  immigration  from  these  countries. 

The  immigration  of  women  and  children  will  also  undoubt- 
edly reach  large  proportions.  This  change  is  already  manifest. 
They,  too,  will  be  assisted  to  come.  Not  by  foreign  governments 
seeking  to  dump  their  undesirables,  but  by  relatives  in  this  coun- 
try who  send  money,  who  write  about  conditions  in  America, 
who  lure  old  neighbors  by  stories  of  high  wages,  improved  social 
and  political  conditions,  by  tales  of  achievement  on  the  part  of 
their  children,  and  who  advance  the  cost  of  transportation  and 
sufficient  "show-money"  to  enable  the  alien  to  pass  the  immi- 
gration inspector.  From  seventy  to  eighty  per  cent  of  the  immi- 
gration from  the  south  of  Europe  is  probably  assisted  in  this 
way,  and  fully  eighty  per  cent  of  the  incoming  immigrants  are 
ticketed  to  some  friend  in  this  country,  who  "grub-stakes"  them, 
finds  employment,  and  cares  for  them  until  they  secure  a  footing. 

Other  influences  will  stimulate  immigration  from  all  of  the 
contending  nations.  From  15,000,000  to  20,000,000  men  have  been 
taken  from  the  factories,  the  mines,  the  mills,  and  from  agri- 
cultural labor.  They  have  experienced  a  freedom  they  have 
never  before  enjoyed.  They  have  been  thrown  upon  their  own 


242  SELECTED   ARTICLES 

resources  and  have  lived  their  own -lives  with  their  fellows  in 
the  trenches.  A  spirit  of  independence  will  have  been  created; 
and  with  it  a  restless,  roving  disinclination  to  the  old  humdrum 
life  of  the  farm  or  the  mill.  A  kind  of  freedom  and  resource- 
fulness will  be  created  and  the  psychology  of  all  Europe  will  be 
changed.  A  new  spirit  of  independence  will  probably  take  the 
place  of  the  feudalistic  life  previously  accepted  as  inevitable. 
Many  of  these  restless  millions  will  resent  their  former  condi- 
tion. They  will  prize  their  newly  experienced  freedom.  In  ad- 
dition, home  ties  will  have  been  broken.  Old  connections  will 
have  been  destroyed.  Many  will  have  acquired  the  tramp  and 
vagrant  spirit.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  these  men  may  be 
led  to  migrate  by  a  restless,  roving,  unsettled  instinct,  and  this, 
too,  will  increase  the  flow  to  America. 

Added  to  these  are  the  weakened  and  enfeebled  men;  those 
who  have  been  unbalanced,  possibly  crazed,  by  their  experiences 
at  the  front.  There  will  be  millions  of  diseased,  wounded,  and 
crippled  who  will  have  to  be  pensioned  at  home  or  supported  by 
public  relief.  Many  of  these  have  friends  in  America  and  they, 
too,  will  turn  their  faces  toward  the  land  of  hope  that  has  lured 
their  friends  and  neighbors  in  previous  generations. 

Millions  are  living  in  conquered  territory  under  a  foreign 
flag.  What  will  happen  to  them?  Will  the  conquering  or  the 
defeated  nations  absorb  them,  or  will  they  be  thrown  upon  the 
world  to  find  a  new  resting-place  as  best  they  may? 

Finally,  every  man,  woman,  and  child  of  the  four  hundred 
million  people  living  in  the  warring  countries  has  suffered  from 
it.  The  great  majority  were  living  close  to  the  margin  of  pov- 
erty prior  to  the  war ;  they  have  been  suffering  untold  privations 
during  it.  And  the  years  which  follow  will  be  even  worse,  be- 
cause of  the  devastation  which  has  taken  place,  the  result  of 
which  will  only  be  realized  in  the  years  to  follow  when  the 
workers  are  again  thrown  on  their  own  resources.  This  is  par- 
ticularly true  of  agriculture,  in  which  pursuit  the  majority  of 
the  people  were  engaged.  Taxation  in  half  of  Europe  was  at 
the  limit  of  human  endurance  before  the  war  broke  out,  and  the 
burdens  of  debt  charges,  of  future  army  maintenance,  of  pen- 
sions, of  national  rebuilding  will  be  almost  if  not  quite  unsup- 
portable.  Exhausting  as  universal  military  service  is,  the  ex- 
haustion of  universal  tax  service  may  be  almost  equally  unsup- 
portable. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  243 

A  population  four  times  that  of  the  United  States  is  in  a 
state  of  industrial  and  social  chaos.  The  old  order  can  never  be 
re-established.  Millions  of  men  are  in  movement,  and  tens  of 
millions  more  are  destitute,  disabled,  and  close  to  poverty.  Mil- 
lions will  never  take  up  their  old  life  again.  Millions  more  will 
be  unable  to  do  so.  Women  and  children  will  be  a  burden,  and 
taxation  and  public  needs  will  tax  the  resources  of  the  nation  to 
the  limit.  National  boundaries  may  change.  Some  countries 
may  never  emerge  from  the  war.  Great  stretches  may  become 
barren  waste. 

Under  such  conditions  as  these  all  Europe  may  turn  wistful 
glances  to  a  country  that  is  free  from  war  and  the  hazards  of 
war;  to  a  land  of  political  liberty  and  low  taxation;  and  mil- 
lions in  Europe  may  clamor  at  the  ports  of  embarkation  in  the 
hope  of  a  new  chance  in  a  new  world. 

What  shall  we  do  about  it?  How  shall  we  face  this  human 
appeal,  the  most  pathetic  that  has  ever  confronted  us;  an  appeal, 
too,  that  will  be  repeated  from  among  the  13,000,000  foreign-born 
already  in  America  and  the  18,000,000  immediate  descendants  of 
those  of  foreign  birth?  Shall  we  tighten  our  laws  and  close  our 
doors  to  those  who,  for  three  centuries,  have  found  an  asylum 
from  religious  and  political  oppression,  or  shall  our  traditional 
policy  of  an  open  door  to  the  fit  and  able-bodied  be  maintained? 

Fortunately  no  legislation  is  necessary  to  meet  the  problem  of 
the  physically  unfit,  for  the  present  immigration  laws  are  selec- 
tive, L  e.,  they  refuse  to  admit  the  weak  and  the  infirm,  those 
afflicted  with  contagious  or  infectious  diseases,  those  who  have  a 
criminal  record  behind  them,  and  those  who  are  likely  to  become 
a  public  charge.  And  under  these  laws -16,588  persons  were  de- 
nied admission  in  1914,  or  1.64  per  cent  of  those  who  sought 
admission.  Enforcement  of  existing  laws  involves  indescribable 
hardships  to  those  who  come  to  us  in  hope  of  an  asylum.  And 
these  adverse  decisions  will  undoubtedly  be  increased  many  times 
when  the  war  is  over. 

There  is  no  likelihood  of  these  restraints  being  weakened,  for 
there  are  none  who  would  open  our  doors  to  those  who  are 
likely  to  become  a  public  charge  or  those  who  will  add  a  strain 
of  feeble-mindedness,  imbecility,  or  insanity  to  our  population. 
The  laws  that  now  exist  are  adequate  to  protect  us  from  the 
classes  enumerated,  with  the  possible  exception  of  those  who, 
moved  by  restless  discontent,  are  unwilling  to  return  to  their  old 

16 


244  SELECTED   ARTICLES 

associations  and  employments.  The  test  will  come  if  Europe 
fails  to  find  work  for  its  people,  for  its  millions  of  returning 
soldiers.  In  that  event  we  may  be  faced  with  the  most  serious 
immigration  problem  that  has  ever  confronted  us,  a  problem,  too, 
confused  by  sympathy  and  a  profound  desire  to  aid,  as  best  we 
can,  in  the  rehabilitation  of  the  world. 

Scientific  Monthly.  2:438-52.   May,  1916 

Immigration  and  the  War.     Robert  DeC.   Ward 

It  is  easy  to  see  what  use  the  steamship  agents  will  make  of 
the  conditions  following  the  war,  in  order  to  stimulate  emigra- 
tion from  abroad.  "Fly  from  the  horrors  of  war;  escape  your 
taxes;  go  to  a  country  where  there  are  no  wars;  where  there  is 
no  standing  army;  where  wages  are  high  and  work  is  plenty;  go 
to  America."  A  considerable  proportion  of  our  immigration  even 
in  normal  times  is  thus  artificially  stimulated.  What  will  happen 
after  the  war  it  is  easy  to  guess.  Already,  plans  are  being  made 
by  foreign  companies  for  the  establishment  of  new  steamship 
lines,  to  bring  emigrants  from  Europe  and  Asia  to  the  United 
States. 

All  th?s  is  not  mere  idle  speculation.  Our  statistics  show 
that  recent  wars  have  in  no  case  been  followed  by  any  perma- 
nent decrease  in  emigration  from  the  countries  involved.  On 
the  contrary,  as  Professor  J.  W.  Jenks  has  pointed  out,  these 
wars  have  usually  resulted  in  a  large  and  almost  immediate  in- 
crease. After  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  immigration  to  this 
country  from  Germany  and  France  increased,  and  attained  its 
maximum  not  many  years  after  the  war.  Greek  immigration 
increased  steadily  after  the  last  Turco-Grecian  war.  The  more 
recent  Balkan  war  was  followed  by  increased  immigration  from 
the  Balkan  states.  The  numbers  from  Serbia,  Bulgaria,  Mon- 
tenegro and  Greece  in  the  year  after  that  war  were  nearly  double 
those  of  the  year  preceding  the  war.  Those  who  may  maintain 
that  immigration  will  decrease  permanently  after  the  present  war 
is  over  have  no  statistics  on  which  to  base  their  claim. 

No  one  who  has  at  heart  the  future  of  the  American  race 
can  fail  to  view  with  concern  the  probable  effects  of  the  war 
upon  the  physical,  mental  and  moral  condition  of  our  immi- 
grants. The  introduction  of  pestilential  war  diseases,  such  as 
cholera,  typhus,  typhoid  fever  and  the  like,  is  not  greatly  to  be 


ON  IMMIGRATION  245 

feared,  although  some  of  our  medical  men  are  already  viewing 
this  problem  with  much  concern.  On  the  other  hand,  the  more 
subtle  and  much  less  easily  detected  venereal  diseases,  which 
are  always  rampant  in  great  armies  in  war  time,  and  the  mental 
breakdowns,  of  which  there  are  so  many  thousands  of  cases 
among  the  soldiers  at  the  front,  present  another  aspect  of  the 
health  problem  which  is  far  more  serious.  Great  numbers  of 
soldiers,  although  not  actually  afflicted  with  any  specific  disease, 
will  eventually  come  to  the  United  States,  maimed,  crippled, 
wounded,  enfeebled  by  illness  or  exposure,  or  mentally  unstable. 
The  fittest,  mentally  and  physically;  those  who  in  the  past  have 
had  the  initiative  and  the  courage  to  emigrate,  will  be  dead,  at 
the  prime  of  life,  or  will  be  needed  at  home  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  rebuilding  and  reorganization.  These  are  the  men 
whom  Europe  will  do  its  utmost  to  keep  at  home.  The  least 
fit  are  likely  to  emigrate.  Many  of  those  who,  because  of  mental 
or  physical  disability,  will  find  themselves  least  able  to  earn  a 
living  abroad,  will  be  the  very  ones  most  likely  to  be  "assisted" 
by  relatives  and  friends  in  this  country  to  "come  to  America." 
Against  the  emigration  of  such  persons  the  European  govern- 
ments will  not  set  up  any  barriers.  There  are  good  grounds, 
therefore,  for  expecting,  with  reasonable  certainty,  that  our  im- 
migration in  the  next  few  decades  after  the  war  will  be  of  a 
lower  physical  and  mental  standard  than  it  has  been  in  the  past. 

Our  future  immigration  is  sure'  to  contain  a  large  proportion 
of  disturbed,  restless,  irresponsible  men;  less  amenable  to  law 
and  order;  less  disposed  to  conform  to  our  conditions  of  life; 
less  easily  assimilable,  than  has  been  the  case  in  the  past.  The 
interruption  of  the  education  of  multitudes  of  young  men  who 
have  been  called  on  for  military  service,  and  who  will  never  take 
up  again  their  scholastic  or  vocational  training,  is  a  serious  phase 
of  our  general  problem.  This  group  will  go  forth  into  the  world 
insufficiently  and  unsatisfactorily  prepared  for  the  business  of 
life.  For  years  to  come,  our  immigration  will  include  large 
numbers  of  youths  and  of  men  whose  standards  of  education 
will  be  lower  than  would  have  been  the  case  had  there  been  no 
war. 

And  what  of  the  more  distant  future?  What  of  the  effects 
upon  the  unborn  generations?  This  question  is  obviously  a  diffi- 
cult one.  Opinions  vary  greatly  in  regard  to  it.  As  a  rather 
extreme  representative  of  one  side,  we  may  turn  to  Dr.  David 
Starr  Jordan's  latest  book,  whose  title  clearly  indicates  the  mes- 


246  SELECTED   ARTICLES 

sage  which  its  author  seeks  to  bring,  "War  and  the  Breed:  the 
Relation  of  War  to  the  Downfall  of  Nations"  (1915).  War,  as 
Dr.  Jordan  strikingly  puts  it,  "impoverishes  the  breed."  The 
strongest  and  best  men  are  the  ones  who  are  killed  or  injured, 
and  who  leave  few  or  no  children.  The  weaklings  live,  marry 
and  continue  the  race.  The  result  is  an  inevitable  impoverish- 
ment of  the  stock. 

This  "impoverishment  of  the  breed,"  in  Dr.  Jordan's  opinion, 
is  an  inevitable  result  of  war.  The  longer  the  conflict  con- 
tinues, the  more  serious  will  be  the  effects  upon  future  genera- 
tions. The  weakling  fathers — too  young,  too  old,  or  too  feeble  to 
fight — and  the  improperly  nourished,  overworked  and  harassed 
mothers  of  Europe,  are  handing  on  to  their  children  who  are 
now  being  born  an  inheritance  of  physical  and  mental  unfitness 
which  will  mark  not  only  this  generation  but  future  generations, 
through  the  long  vista  of  the  time  to  come.  An  increase  in  the 
number  of  defective  children,  now  and  hereafter,  is  a  condition 
which  Europe  must  face,  and  which,  because  it  will  affect  the 
character  of  our  immigrants,  vitally  concerns  the  United  States. 


PART  II 


ASIATIC  IMMIGRATION 


BRIEF 

Resolved,  That  the  present  Chinese  exclusion  law  should 
remain  in  force  and  that  similar  legislation  should  be  enacted 
to  apply  to  Japanese  and  other  Asiatics. 

INTRODUCTION 

I.    The  facts  in  the  case  are  these  : 

A.  The  Chinese  have  been  excluded  since  1882. 

B.  Japanese   immigration  has  been  held  in  check  since 

1907  by  means  of  an  international  agreement. 

C.  Other  Asiatic  immigration,  Korean,  East  Indian,  etc., 

is  at  present  negligible  but  may  increase. 

D.  There  is  no  national  law  restricting  Asiatic  immigra- 

tion other  than  Chinese. 

E.  States   cannot  enact  restrictive   legislation,   but   Cali- 

fornia has  tried  other  means  of  discouraging  Japan- 
ese immigration: 

1.  Segregation  of  Japanese  in  schools,  1907. 

2.  Alien  land  legislation,  1913. 

II.  The  Affirmative  will  stand  for  rigid  exclusion  of  all 
Asiatics  by  means  of  a  law  enacted  by  Congress,  and 
will  show  that  in  the  absence  of  such  legislation  states 
are  driven  to  take  other  measures  in  self-protection. 
III.  The  Negative  will  take  a  more  liberal  attitude  toward 
Asiatics;  show  that  fears  concerning  them  are  un- 
founded; that  the  present  agreement  between  nations  is 
satisfactory,  and  will  take  the  stand  that  California  has 
acted  unwisely. 

AFFIRMATIVE 

•I.    Asiatic  immigration  brings  with  it  all  the  evils  of  other 

immigration. 
A.    Social. 

i.    Lower  standard  of  living. 


250  BRIEF 

2.    Different  standard  of  morals. 

B.  Economic. 

1.  Lowering  of  wages. 

2.  Displacement  of  American  labor. 

3.  Appropriation  of  land  that  should  be   settled   by 

white  men. 

C.  Political. 

i.    Asiatics    if    admitted    will    demand    naturalization 
rights,  leading  to  even  greater  political  corrup- 
tion than  at  present. 
II.     In  addition  it  brings  the  evil  of  a  complicated  race  problem. 

A.  The    United    States    already    has    one    race    problem 

which  it  has  been  unable  to  settle. 

B.  Race  prejudice  is  real,  not  imaginary. 

1.  The  white  and  yellow  races  dislike  and  distrust  one 

another. 

2.  White  men  will  not  work  with  yellow. 

3.  Race  riots  are  inevitable. 

III.  Immediate  congressional  action  is  called  for. 

A.  A  treaty  or  international  agreement  is  not  sufficient 

guarantee  of  strict  exclusion. 

B.  If   Asiatics  are   allowed  to  come  trouble  will   result 

involving  serious  international  complications, 
i.    The  further  apart  the  two  races  can  be  kept,  the 
less  likelihood  there  will  be  of  friction. 

C.  The  present  Chinese  exclusion  law  has  proved  suc- 

cessful and  could  easily  be  applied  to  others. 

IV.  Without  action  on  the  part  of  Congress  certain  states  are 

driven  to  take  measures  in  their  own  protection. 

NEGATIVE 

I.    The  evil  effects  of  Asiatic  immigration  have  been  exag- 
gerated. 

A.  The  Chinese  and  Japanese  in  this  country  have  proved 

to  be 

1.  Industrious. 

2.  Temperate  and  of  good  habits. 

3.  Peace  loving. 

B.  They  fill  a  distinct  place  in  the  community  life. 

i.    They  do  work  which  white  men  will  not  do. 


BRIEF  251 

2.     They  are  good  farmers,  in  many  cases*  having  re- 
claimed land  thought  to  be  worthless. 
C.     They  have  not  lowered  wages. 
II.     Race  prejudice  is  based  on  ignorance. 

A.  Members    of    different    races    can   live    side    by    side 

peaceably. 

B.  Race  feeling  is  stirred  up  by  unwise  agitation. 

III.  Congressional  action  is  not  called  for. 

A.  The  present  arrangement  is  satisfactory. 

B.  Rigid  exclusion  would  lead  to  bad  feeling  on  the  part 

of  Japan  and  to  possible  international  trouble. 

C.  An  international  agreement  is  the  best  means  of  pre- 

serving friendly  relations. 

IV.  Action  on  the  part  of  states  is  unwise  and  unnecessary. 

A.  California's  action  stirred  up  unnecessary  ill  feeling. 

B.  Conditions  at  the  time  did  not  call  for  such  action. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


GENERAL  REFERENCES 

Bibliographies,  Briefs,  etc. 

Bulletin  of  Bibliography.  8:94-8.  O.  '14.    Japanese  in  the  United 

States.    Ina  T.  Firkins. 
Cowan,    R.    E.,    and    Dunlap,    B.,    comps.     Bibliography    of    the 

Chinese  Question  in  the  United  States.      *$i.4O.  Robertson. 

1909. 
Independent.   76:141.   O.    16,  '13.      California   Anti-Alien   Land 

Law ;  Brief  and  bibliog.    Edith  M.  Phelps. 
Oregon  High  School  Debating  League.    Asiatic  Immigration,  in 

Announcements   for  the   Year,    1910-11.      Univ.   of    Oregon, 

Eugene.  1910. 
Shurter,  E.  D.,  and  Taylor,  C.  C.     Chinese  Immigration;  Brief 

and  bibliog.,  in  Both  Sides  of  100  Public  Questions,  pp.  16-7. 

Hinds,  Noble  &  Eldredge.  1913. 
Ringwalt,  R.   C.      Chinese  Immigration ;   Brief   and  bibliog.,  in 

Briefs  on  Public  Questions,  pp.  31-41.     Longmans,  Green  & 

Co.  1913. 

Books,  Pamphlets,  etc. 

Abbott,  James  Francis.    "Yellow  Peril,"  in  Japanese  Expansion 
and  American  Policies,  pp.   143-93.    Macmillan.    1916. 

Adams,  T.  S.,  and  Sumner,  H.  L.    Chinese  and  Japanese  Immi- 
gration, in  Labor  Problems,  pp.  99-111.    Macmillan.  1908. 

Blakeslee,   G.  H.,  ed.    Japan  and  Japanese- American  Relations. 
G.  E.  Stechert  &  Co.  1912. 

Bancroft,  Hubert  H.    Race  Problems,  in  New  Pacific,  pp.  403-35. 
new  ed.    Bancroft  Co.  1912. 

Coolidge,  Mary  Roberts.     Chinese  Immigration.    Holt.  1909. 

Mrs.    Coolidge's    conclusions    are    favorable    to    the    Chinese,    but    the 

book    is   listed    here    because    it    contains   valuable    material    for    both    sides 

in    a    debate. 

Crow,  Carl.    Japan  and  America,  pp.  190-9.  McBride.   1916. 
Hall,   P.   F.     Chinese  Immigration,  in   Immigration,   pp.  327-35. 
2d  ed.    Holt.  1908. 


254  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

J'enks,  J.  W.,  and  Lauck,  W.  J.  Oriental  Immigration  to  the 
Pacific  Coast  States,  in  Immigration  Problem,  pp.  231-60. 
Funk  &  Wagnalls.  1913. 

Mabie,  H.  W.  Japan  To-day  and  To-morrow.  Macmillan.  1914. 

Mayo-Smith,  R.  Chinese  Immigration,  in  Emigration  and  Immi- 
gration, pp.  227-65.  Scribner.  1898. 

Masaoka,  Naoichi,  ed.  Japan  to  America.  Putnam.  1914. 

Millard,  Thomas  F.  Japan  and  the  United  States,  in  Our  East- 
ern Question,  pp.  252-71.  Century.  1916. 

Millis,  H.  A.  Japanese  Problem  in  the  United  States.  Macmil- 
lan. 1915. 

Russell,  Lindsay,  ed.    America  to  Japan.     Putnam.  1915. 

Scherer,  James  A.  B.    Japanese  Crisis.     Stokes.    1916. 

Sparks,  Edwin  E.  Chinese  Immigration,  in  National  Develop- 
ment, 1877-85.  Harper.  1907. 

United  States.  Census  Bureau.  Chinese  and  Japanese  in  the 
United  States.  Bui.  127.  isc.  Supt.  of  Doc.  1914. 

*United  States.  Immigration  Commission.  Abstracts  of  Re- 
ports, pp.  654-76.  2v.  Govt.  Ptg.  1911. 

Magazine  Articles 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  24:  209-20.  JL  '04.  Australian 
Methods  of  Dealing  with  Immigration.  Frank  Parsons. 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  34 :  S.  '09.  Chinese  and  Jap- 
anese in  America. 

This  entire  number  is  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  the  question. 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  45 :  99-130.  Ja.  '13.  Canada 
and  the  Chinese;  a  comparison  with  the  U.  S.  P.  H.  Clem- 
ents. 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  54:245-50.  Jl.  '14.     Policy  of" 
the  United  States  in  the  Pacific.    E.  C.  Stowell. 

Century.  88:  105-8.  My.  '14.  Are  We  Honest  with  Japan?  J.  D. 
Whelpley. 

Collier's.  40:  13-5,  13-5,  17,  S.  28,  O.  12,  O.  19,  '07.  Japanese  and 
the  Pacific  Coast.  Will  Irwin. 

Everybody's.  32 : 587-600.  My.  '15.  Snarl  of  Waking  Asia. 
G.  Garrett. 

Fortnightly.  101 : 885-92.  My.  '14.      Japan  and  the  United  States 
J.  D.  Whelpley. 
Same.     Living   Age.    281:    707-12.    Je.    20,    '14. 

Independent.  61 : 1425-6.  D.  13,  '06.  Japanese  Exclusion.  David 
S.  Jordan. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  255 

Literary  Digest.  46:991-4.  My.  3,  '13.     Issue  between  Japan  and 

California. 
Literary  Digest.  46:  1107-9.  My.  17,  '13.      California's  Solution  of 

Her  Japanese  Problem. 

Living  Age.  277 :  564-6.  My.  31,  '13.    Japanese  in  California. 
Living   Age.   282:387-92.    Ag.    15,   '14.      Asiatic    Emigration;    a 

World  Problem.     S.  N.  Singh. 
North    American    Review.    183 :  1225-8.    D.    21,    '06.      American 

Schools  and  Japanese  Pupils.     C.  W.  Fulton. 
North  American  Review.   187 : 481-5.  Ap.  '08.     Spirit  and  Letter 

of  Exclusion.     Oscar  S.  Straus. 

Same  cond.     Review  of  Reviews.     37:  603-4.     My.   '08. 

Outlook.   36:101-5.   My.    18,    '07.      Japanese   in    America.    John 

Foord. 
Outlook.  104:61-5.  My.  10,  '13.    White  and  Yellow  in  California. 

Walter  V.  Woehlke. 
Outlook.    105:477-80.   N.    i,   '13.     California  and  the   Japanese: 

Symposium. 
Popular  Science  Monthly.  80:151-7.  F.  '12.     Relations  of  Japan 

and  the  United  States.    David  S.  Jordan. 
Review  of  Reviews.  23:207-8.  F.  '01.    Japanese  Immigration. 
Review  of  Reviews.  35 :  259-65.  Mr.  '07.     Japan  and  America. 
Review  of  Reviews.  47 :  738-40.  Je.  '13.     What  the  Japanese  do  in 

California. 
Review  of  Reviews.  48:  103-5.  Jl-  'r3-     Case  of  California  versus 

Japan. 

World  To-day,  u  :  1310-3.  D.  '06.      San  Francisco  and  the  Japan- 
ese.   W.  H.  Thomson. 
World's   Work.    13 : 8690-3.    Mr.   '07.     Oriental    Problem    as   the 

Coast  Sees  It.    Jerome  A.  Hart. 

AFFIRMATIVE  REFERENCES 

Books,  Pamphlets,  etc. 
Asiatic  Exclusion  League.     Reports,  etc.     San  Francisco.  1906. 

Formerly  Japanese  and  Korean  Exclusion  League.  Organized  in  1905. 
Name  changed  in  1907.  May  '06  is  the  date  of  the  first  report  issued 
after  the  fire.  Earlier  issues  are  practically  unobtainable. 

Benham,  G.  B.  Asiatic  Problem  and  American  Opinions.  Asi- 
atic Exclusion  League.  1908. 

Rea,  George  Bronson.  Japan's  Place  in  the  Sun;  the  Menace  to 
America,  gratis.  W.  L.  Bass,  Washington,  D.  C.  1916. 


256  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Magazine  Articles 

^Collier's.  51 :  12.  My.  31,  '13.    World's  Most  Menacing  Problem. 

Collier's.  51 : 5-6.  Je.  7.  '13.  Japan  in  California.  P.  C.  Mac- 
farlane. 

""Congressional  Record.  40 :  3749-53.  Mr.  13,  '06.  Japanese  Ex- 
clusion. E.  A.  Hayes. 

Congressional  Record.  41 :  1579-85.  Ja.  23,  '07.  Treaty-making 
Power  of  Government  and  the  Japanese  Question.  E.  A. 
Hayes. 

*Congressional  Record.  42 : 3494-8.  Mr.  17,  '08.  Shall  the  United 
States  Exclude  the  Immigration  of  Japanese  and  Korean 
Laborers?  Burton  L.  French. 

Cosmopolitan.  43 :  604-7.  O.  '07.  World-Menace  of  Japan.  Gold- 
win  Smith. 

*Harper's  Weekly.  51 :  1484.  O.  12,  '07.  Real  Pacific  Question. 
Sydney  Brooks. 

""Independent.  62 : 26-33.  Ja.  3,  '07.  Japanese  Question  from  a 
Californian's  Standpoint.  Julius  Kahn. 

^Independent.  74:  1439-40.  Je.  26,  '13.  Japanese  Question  from  a 
Californian  Standpoint.  James  D.  Phelan. 

Literary  Digest.  46:1215-6.  My.  31,  '13.  Japan's  Ally  [Great 
Britain]  on  California. 

*Nation.  08 :  724-5.  J'l.  18,  '14.  Immigration  from  the  Orient. 
H.  C.  Nutting. 

Outlook.  87 : 455-7.  O.  26,  '07.     Oriental  Immigration. 

*Outlook.  97:63-4.  Ja.  14,  'n.     Oriental  Immigration. 

Outlook.  97:  151-4.  Ja.  28,  'n.    Japanese  Immigration. 

Outlook.  104:  14-6.  My.  3,  '13.  Japan,  California  and  the  United 
States. 

Outlook.  104:739-41.  Ag.  2,  '13.    Japan  and  the  United  States. 

Outlook.  106:340-1.  F.  14,  '14.  Immigration  of  Asiatics.  E.  A. 
Hayes. 

*Sunset.  31 : 122-7.  Jl.  'i3-  Keeping  the  Coast  Clear.  Arthur 
Dunn. 

Sunset.  34:346.  F.  '15.    Japanese  Conceptions  of  America. 

World  To-Day.  9:899-901.  Ag.  '05.  Japanese  Invasion.  J'.  M. 
Scanland. 

World  To-Day.  20:464-72.  Ap.  'H.  Orient  in  California.  John 
T.  Bramhall. 

World's  Work.  17:10989-91.  D.  '08.  Western  View  of  the  Jap- 
anese, W.  T.  Prosser, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  257 

World's    Work.    26:195-201.    Je.    '13.      Japanese    in    California. 

Chester  H.  Rowell. 
World's  Work.  27 :  74-8.  N.  '13.     Health  Menace  of  Alien  Races. 

Charles  T.  Nesbitt. 


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Dickinson,  G.  Lowes.    Japan  and  America,  in  Appearances,  pp. 

126-31.     Doubleday,  Page.  1914. 

Gulick,  Sidney  L.    American-Japanese  Problem.     Scribner.   1914. 
^National  Education  Association.   1914:35-40.     Responsibility  of 

American   Educators  in  the   Solution   of  America's   Oriental 

Problem.     S.  L.  Gulick. 
lyenaga,  Toyokichi,  ed.    Japan's  Real  Attitude  Toward  America. 

Putnam.   1916. 

A  reply  to  G.  B.  Rea's  "Japan's  Place  in  the  Sun." 
Wu   Ting   Fang.     America  and   China,  in  America  through  the 

Spectacles  of  an  Oriental  Diplomat,  pp.  40-53.     F.  A.  Stokes. 

1914. 

Magazine  Articles 

American  Economic  Review.  5 :  787-804.  D.  '15.  Some  of  the 
Economic  Aspects  of  Japanese  Immigration.  H.  A.  Millis. 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  34 :  275-93.  S.  '09.  Un-Ameri- 
can Character  of  Race  Legislation.  M.  J.  Kohler. 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  34 :  294-9.  S.  '09.  Reasons  for 
Encouraging  Japanese  Immigration.  J.  P.  Irish. 

*Annals  of  the  American  Academy.  34 : 300-5.  S.  '09.  Moral 
and  Social  Interests  Involved  in  Restricting  Oriental  Immigra- 
tion. Thomas  L.  Eliot. 

Arena.  37:  n-6.  Ja.  '07.   Our  Insult  to  Japan.     C.  V.  Holman. 

Collier's.  57:5-6.  Mr.  25,  '16.  California  and  the  Japanese.  Lin- 
coln Steffens. 

*Forum.  50:66-76.  Jl.  '13.  Japanese- American  Relations.  Edwin 
Maxey. 

Forum.  50:82-93.  Jl.  '13.  Japanese  on  Our  Farms.  K.  K.  Kawa- 
kami. 

Harper's  Weekly.  57 : 7.  My.  3,  '13.  Playing  with  Dynamite. 
William  Inglis, 


258  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Independent.  59:961-7.  O.  26,  '05.  Japanese  on  American 
Farms.  K.  K.  Kawakami. 

Independent.  61 :  1260-5.  N.  29,  '06.  Japanese  in  California.  K.  K. 
Kawakami. 

Independent.  74:975-8.  My.  i,  1913.  Straining  an  Historic 
Friendship.  Hamilton  Holt. 

Independent.  74:1019-22.  My.  8,  '13.  How  California  Treats 
the  Japanese.  K.  K.  Kawakami. 

Independent.  75 :  138-42.  Jl.  17,  '13.  Inter-racial  Amity  in  Cali- 
fornia. N.  Marquis. 

*Literary  Digest  47:67+.  Jl.  12,  '13.  California's  Hustling 
Japanese. 

Nation.  88:194-5.  F.  25,  '09.     Cause  of  Immigration. 

North  American  Review.  184:29-34.  Ja.  4,  '07.  What  Japanese 
Exclusion  Would  Mean.  Osborne  Howes. 

North  American  Review.  185 :  394-402.  Je.  21,  '07.  Naturalization 
of  Japanese.  K.  K.  Kawakami. 

North  American  Review.  198 : 332-40.  S.  '13.  Nagging  the  Jap- 
anese. Francis  G.  Peabody. 

*North  American  Review.  200:  566-75.  O.  '14.  Our  Honor  and 
Shame  jvith  Japan.  William  E.  Griffis. 

Outlook.  104:754-7.  Ag.  2,  '13.  Americans  and  the  Far  East. 
H.  W.  Mabie. 

Outlook.  104:757-8.  Ag.  2,  '13.     Situation  in  Japan.    J.  I.  Bryan. 

Overland,  n.  s.  55 : 204-10.  F.  '10.  Orientals  and  Portola. 
B.  Glynn. 

Overland,  n.  s.  57:491-5.  My.  'n.  Why  the  Chinese  Exclusion 
Law  Should  Be  Modified.  T.  B.  Wilson. 

Overland,  n.  s.  57:577.  My.  'n.  Chinese  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 
H.  Davis. 

Survey.  30:  332-6.  Je.  7,  '13.  California  and  the  Japanese.  H.  A. 
Millis. 

*Survey.  31 :  720-2.  Mr.  7,  '14.  Problem  of  Oriental  Immigration. 
Sidney  L.  Gulick. 

*  World's  Work.  4 :  9372-6.  S.  '07.  Mongolian  as  a  Working- 
man.  Woods  Hutchinson. 

*World's  Work.  15 :  10041-4.  Mr.  '08.  Japanese  Immigration. 
S.  Aoki. 


GENERAL  DISCUSSION 


United  States.  Immigration  Commission.     Abstracts  of 
Reports 

Japanese  and   Other  Immigrant  Races  in  the  Pacific  Coast  and 
Rocky  Mountain  States 

The  immigration  problem  of  the  West  takes  a  form  somewhat 
different  from  that  of  the  eastern  and  middle  states,  principally 
because  nf  differences  in  location  with  reference  to  sources  of 
immigration,  comparative  sparsity  of  population,  and  extent  of 
resources  remaining  to  be  developed  and  exploited.  The  expense 
involved  in  direct  immigration  to  the  West  from  Europe  is  so 
great  that  European  immigrants  are  secured  chiefly  as  a  part 
of  the  general  westward  movement.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
location  and  climate  of  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  and  California 
are  such  as  to  cause  them  to  share  with  Texas  most  of  the 
immigrants  from  Mexico,  while  the  location  of  the  three  Pacific 
coasts  states,  California,  Oregon,  and  Washington,  is  such  as  to 
bring  to  them  practically  the  whole  of  the  eastern  Asiatic 
immigration  and  the  secondary  movement  from  the  Hawaiian 
Islands. 

According  to  the  census,  the  number  of  Chinese  in  the 
continental  United  States  in  1900  was  93,283.  Of  these,  88,758 
were  males  and  4525  were  females.  In  all  probability  the  number 
of  adult  males  was  somewhat  larger  than  the  figure  reported,  as 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  enumerate  all  but  a  negligible  percentage 
of  the  foreign-born  males  living  under  such  conditions  as  were 
at  that  time  found  among  the  Chinese.  It  is  impossible  to 
estimate  the  number  of  persons  of  that  race  now  in  the  United 
States,  as  many  have  died  or  returned  to  China  since  1900,  while 
others  have  returned  from  China  to  this  country,  and  men, 
women,  and  children  of  eligible  classes  to  the  number  of  19,182 
have  been  admitted  to  the  United  States  between  July  i,  1899, 
and  June  30,  1909.  Moreover,  it  is  acknowledged  by  those 
familiar  with  the  administration  of  the  law  that  some  foreign- 
born  have  secured  admission  as  "native  sons"  while  others  have 

17 


26o  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

been  smuggled  across  the  Canadian  or  the  Mexican  boundary. 
However,  it. has  become  evident  from  the  investigation  conducted 
by  the  commission  that  the  number  of  Chinese  in  all  of  the  cities 
of  the  West,  and  the  number  engaged  in  the  different  industries 
in  which  they  have  found  employment  in  the  past,  have  materially 
decrease'd  within  the  last  decade  or  so. 

The  immigration  of  Chinese  laborers  to  this  country  may  be 
said  to  date  from  the  rush  to  California  in  search  of  gold  sixty 
years  ago.  Within  ten  years  a  relatively  large  number  of  persons 
of  that  race,  more  than  45,000  in  fact,  found  a  place  in  the 
population  of  that  state.  Before  the  close  of  the  decade  of 
the  sixties,  they  had  engaged  in  a  variety  of  occupations,  as  the 
absence  of  cheap  labor  from  any  other  source,  their  industry  and 
organization,  and  the  rapid  growth  of  the  country  placed  a 
premium  upon  their  employment. 

The  ease  with  which  the  Chinese  found  employment  and  the 
place  they  came  to  occupy  in  the  West  is  explained  by  several 
facts.  First  of  all,  they  were  the  cheapest  laborers  available  for 
unskilled  work.  The  white  population  previous  to  the  eighties 
was  drawn  almost  entirely  from  the  eastern  states  and  from  north 
European  countries,  and,  as  in  all  rapidly  developing  com- 
munities, the  number  of  women  and  children  was  comparatively 
small.  According  to  the  census  of  1870,  of  238,648  persons 
engaged  in  gainful  occupations  in  California,  46  per  cent  were 
native-born,  13  per  cent  were  born  in  Ireland,  8  per  cent  in 
Germany,  4.8  per  cent  in  England  and  Wales,  2  per  cent  in 
France,  and  1.4  per  cent  in  Italy.  The  Chinese,  with  14  per  cent 
of  the  total,  were  more  numerous  than  the  Irish.  The  Chinese 
worked  for  lower  wages  than  the  white  men  in  the  fields  and 
orchards,  in  the  shoe  factories,  the  cigar  factories,  the  woolen 
mills,  and  later  in  most  of  the  other  industries  in  which  the  two 
classes  were  represented.  As  a  result  of  this,  a  division  of  labor 
grew  up  in  which  the  Chinese  were  very  generally  employed  in 
certain  occupations  while  white  persons  were  employed  in  other 
occupations  requiring  skill,  a  knowledge  of  English,  and  other 
qualities  not  possessed  by  the  Asiatics,  and  sufficiently  agreeable 
in  character  and  surroundings  to  attract  white  persons  of  the 
type  at  that  time  found  in  the  population  of  the  West. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  the  number  of  Chinese  in  the 
United  States  at  the  time  the  first  exclusion  act  went  into  effect 
(1882)  was  132,300.  The  number  of  Chinese  laborers  did  not 


ON  IMMIGRATION  261 

diminish  perceptibly  for  several  years  after  this.  More  recently, 
because  of  the  wider  distribution  of  the  Chinese  among  the  states, 
the  decreasing  number  in  the  country,  the  large  percentage  who 
have  grown  old,  a  strong  sentiment  against  employing  Asiatics  in 
manufacture,  and  the  appearance  of  the  Japanese,  a  change  has 
taken  place  in  the  occupations  in  which  the  Chinese  engage. 

The  assessment  roll  for  1908  shows  20  cigar  factories,  3 
broom  factories,  I  shoe  factory,  and  5  overall  factories  conducted 
by  Chinese  in  San  Francisco.  By  far  the  largest  number  of 
Chinese,  however,  some  1000,  are  employed  in  the  100  Chinese 
laundries.  The  otl^er  branches  of  business  are  of  comparatively 
little  importance  save  the  art  and  curio  stores,  which  are  con- 
ducted by  business  men  from  China.  Of  the  Chinese  in  other 
cities  much  the  same  may  be  said,  except  that  they  occupy  no 
important  place  in  manufacture  and  that  they  frequently  conduct 
cheap  restaurants,  patronized  largely  by  workingmen.  In  Port- 
land they  also  conduct  numerous  tailor  shops.  On  the  whole,  the 
Chinese  have  not  shown  the  same  progressiveness  and  competitive 
ability  either  in  industry  or  in  business  for  themselves  as  the 
Japanese.  They  have,  however,  occupied  a  more  important  place 
in  manufacture,  especially  in  San  Francisco,  where,  until  within 
the  last  twenty  years,  little  cheap  labor  has  been  available  from 
other  sources. 

The  Japanese  laborers  have  fallen  heir  to  much  of  the  work 
and  the  occupational  and  social  position  of  the  Chinese,  whose 
diminishing  numbers  in  the  western  states  since  1890  have  been 
mentioned.  The  history  of  the  Japanese  in  this  country  can  be 
understood  in  certain  respects  only  when  connected  with  that 
of  the  Chinese  whose  immigration  was  earlier  and  who,  in  de- 
creasing numbers,  have  continued  to  work  along  with  the 
members  of  the  newer  race. 

Until  1898  the  number  of  Japanese  immigrating  to  the  conti- 
nental United  States  had  never  reached  2,000  in  any  one  year.  In 
1900  the  total  number  in  the  continental  United  States,  excluding 
Alaska,  was  reported  by  the  census  as  24,326.  From  1899-1900  to 
1906-7  the  number  arriving  from  Japan,  Mexico,  and  Canada 
varied  between  4,319  (in  1905)  and  12,626  (in  1900),  while 
between  January  i,  1902,  and  December  31,  1907,  37,000,  at- 
tracted by  the  higher  wages,  better  conditions,  and  better  oppor- 
tunities to  establish  themselves  as  farmers  or  as  business  men, 
came  from  the  Hawaiian  Islands  to  the  mainland. 


262  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

Since  1905  there  has  been  a  general  and  organized  demand 
on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  particularly  in  California,  for  the 
exclusion  of  Japanese  laborers  from  the  continental  territory  of 
the  United  States.  The  separation  of  Japanese  from  white  chil- 
dren in  the  public  schools  of  San  Francisco,  and  other  manifesta- 
tions of  anti-Japanese  sentiment,  together  with  a  number  of 
anti-Japanese  measures  under  consideration  by  the  legislature  of 
California,  precipitated  an  acute  situation  in  1^06  and  1907.  On 
the  other  hand  it  developed  that  the  Japanese  government  had 
for  some  time  looked  with  disfavor  on  the  emigration  of  its 
working  population  to  distant  countries,  and  an  understanding 
was  therefore  reached  between  the  Japanese  and  the  United 
States  governments  that  the  former  should  thenceforth  issue 
passports  to  only  such  members  of  the  laboring  class  as  had  been 
residents  of  this  country  and  were  returning  here,  were  parents, 
wives,  or  children  of  residents  of  this  country,  or  had  an  already 
possessed  right  to  agricultural  land. 

During  the  year  1907-8  the  number  of  Japanese  who  were 
admitted  to  the  continental  United  States  was  9544,  and  among 
them  there  were  many  of  the  class  not  presumed  under  the 
agreement  to  receive  passports,  but,  as  explained  by  the  Com- 
missioner-General of  Immigration,  "the  system  did  not  begin  to 
work  smoothly  in  all  of  its  details  until  the  last  month  of  the 
fiscal  year."  During  the  two  years  which  have  since  elapsed, 
however,  the  numbers  admitted  have  been  very  much  smaller — 
2432  and  1552  for  the  two  years,  respectively.  Of  the  2432 
admitted  in  1908-9,  768  were  former  residents,  leaving  1664  who 
came  for  the  first  time.  A  comparatively  small  number  who 
were  admitted  came  with  passports  to  which,  according  to  the 
understanding  of  the  Bureau  of  Immigration,  they  were  not 
entitled,  while  some  were  admitted  who  did  not  possess  passports 
to  this  country  properly  made  out.  The  great  majority  of  the 
much-reduced  number  admitted,  however,  have  been  of  the  non- 
laboring  class — 1719  of  the  2432  admitted  in  1908-9.  Though  a 
large  percentage  of  the  nonlaborers  take  work  as  wage  laborers 
upon  their  arrival  in  this  country,  and  the  class  excluded  are  not 
just  the  same  as  under  the  Chinese  exclusion  law,  the  regulation 
is  undoubtedly  effective  at  present  in  preventing  any  "detriment 
to  labor  conditions." 

A  large  percentage  of  those  who  have  come  recently  have 
been  the  wives  and  children  of  Japanese  already  in  this  country. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  263 

The  number  of  Japanese  males  of  the  laboring  class  departing 
from  the  United  States  is  in  excess  of  the  number  who  are 
admitted  at  the  ports. 

Like  the  earlier  immigration  of  the  Chinese  and  the  present 
^_jmmigration    of   most   of    the    south   and   east   European   races, 
V  the    majority    of   the   Japanese    immigrants    have    been    of    the 
^Agricultural  class — small  farmers,  farmers'  sons,  and  a  few  farm 
laborers.    The  number  of  industrial  wage-earners,  clerks,  profes- 
sional   men,    and    shopkeepers    has    been    much    smaller,    while 
the  number  of  men  coming  with   capital   has  been   very   small 
indeed.     Moreover,  the  majority  have  left  their  native  land  for 
Hawaii  or  continental  United  States  when  young  men,  say  under 
twenty-five,  though  the  number  who  have  been  engaged  in  farm- 
ing  or   in   business    on    their   own    account    and    have    reached 
maturer  years  before  emigrating  is  not  small. 

The  great  majority  of  the  Japanese  in  this  country  have  been 
employed  in  railroad  and  general  construction  work,  as  agricul- 
tural laborers,  cannery  hands,  lumber-mill  and  logging-camp 
laborers,  in  the  various  branches  of  domestic  service  and  in  busi- 
ness establishments  conducted  by  their  countrymen.  Smaller 
numbers  have  been  employed  in  coal  and  ore  mining,  smelting, 
meat  packing,  and  salt  making.  In  the  building  trades  they  have 
done  little  save  in  making  repairs  and  in  doing  cabinet  work  for 
their  countrymen.  They  have  found  little  place  in  manufactur- 
ing establishments  in  cities.  In  contrast  to  the  Chinese,  they 
have  found  little  employment  in  shoe,  clothing,  and  cigar  fac- 
tories. That  they  have  seldom  been  considered  for  "inside"  work 
of  the  kind  in  which  the  Chinese  were  formerly  extensively 
employed,  is  explained  by  a  number  of  facts. .  A  hostile  public 
sentiment,  with  the  boycott  in  the  background,  was  sufficient  to 
cause  many  of  the  employers  to  discharge  their  Chinese  em- 
ployees. This  experience  with  Chinese  labor  has  caused  most 
employers  to  look  elsewhere  than  to  the  Japanese,  for  laborers 
needed  in  such  industries.  More  important,  perhaps,  is  the  fact 
that,  coincident  with  the  immigration  of  the  Japanese,  cheap  labor 
of  other  kinds  has  become  available  in  the  large  number  of 
Italians,  Russians,  Porto  Ricans,  Spaniards,  and  others  finding 
places  in  the  population  of  San  Francisco,  where  most  of  the 
manufacturing  is  conducted.  The  labor  of  these  classes,  and 
especially  of  the  women  and  children,  has  been  cheaper  than  that 
of  the  Japanese  for  the  making  of  cigars  and  work  of  that  char- 


264  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

acter.     Finally,  in  machine  shops,  foundries,  and  similar  places, 
they  have  seldom  been  given  employment,  for  these  trades  are 
well  organized  and  there  has  been  strong  opposition  by  union  men  , 
to  the  employment  of  Asiatics  as  helpers  or  as  common  laborers^ 

In  1909  it  is  probable  that  not  far  from  30,000  Japanese  were 
engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  in  California  during  the  summer 
months.  As  laborers  they  occupy  a  dominant  position  in  most 
of  the  intensive,  specialized  agriculture  which  has  come  to  pre- 
vail, and  especially  in  that  which  involves  much  hand  work  and 
is  seasonal  in  character.  They  occupy  substantially  the  position 
held  by  the  Chinese  twenty  years  ago  in  the  same  and  similar 
industries. 

Among  other  things  shown  by  the  investigation  of  Japanese 
farming  were  the  following : 

(1)  That  because  of  the  convenience   of  the   tenant  system 
and  the  difficulty  farmers  have  experienced  at  times  in  securing 
laborers,  there  has  been  a  strong  inducement  to  lease  land  to  a 
member  of  the  race  most  prominent  in  the  labor  supply ; 

(2)  That  a   further  inducement  has  been   found  in  the   fact 
that  both  Chinese  and  Japanese,  and  the  latter  particularly,  in 
their  anxiety  to  establish  themselves  as  farmers,  had  offered  such 
high  rents  that  leasing  his  land  gave  the  owner  the  best  returns, 
allowance  being  made  for  the  diminished  risk; 

(3)  That  with   the   exception   of  one   or  two   localities,   the 

(Japanese  have  been  the  most  effective  bidders  for  land  and  have 
overbid  Ihe  Chinese,  the  Italians,  and  native  white  men,  and, 
moreover,  have  sometimes  been  effective  bidders  because  they 
would  reduce  land  to  cultivation  which  white  men  would  not 
lease  on  such  terms ; 

(4)  That  much  of  the  leasing  is  closely  related  to   a  labor 
contract     in  which  the  tenant  does     certain  stipulated  kinds  of 
work  in  return  for  a  share  of  the  crop,  but  that  there  has  been 
a  strong  tendency  for  the  Japanese  to  work  for  a  greater  degree 
of  independence  until  they  became  cash  tenants  or  landowners; 

(5)  That  little  capital  has  been  required  for  a  Japanese  to 
become  a  tenant  farmer,  because  (i)  of  the  formation  of  part- 
nerships among  them,    (2)   of  the  provision  of  necessary  equip- 
ment by  the  land-owner  for  the  use  of  share  tenants,  and  (3)  of 
the  advancing  of  money  by  shippers  and  others  in  competing  for 
the  control  of  the  crop,  the  result  being  that  many  of  the  Japanese 
farmers  have  required  little  or  no  capital  to  begin  with ; 


ON  IMMIGRATION  265 

(6)  That  the  leasing  of  land  to  Japanese,  as  to  Chinese  and 
Italians,  has  resulted  in  a  displacement  of  laborers  of  other,  races 
because,  on   account  of   the   disinclination  of  white   persons  to 
work  for  them  or  their  own  favoritism,  they  employ  persons  of 
their  own  race  almost  exclusively; 

(7)  That  the  Japanese   farmers    usually   pay  their  Japanese 
laborers  more   than   the  local   rate,  but  these  wages  are   for  a 
longer  work  day  and  for  the  better  men  they  are  usually  in  a 
position  to  select  from  those  available ; 

(8)  That    in    growing    strawberries,    asparagus,    and    certain 
vegetables  the  Japanese   farmers  have  increased  the   acreage  in 
some   instances   until  the  industry  has  become   unprofitable   for 
them  as  well  as  others ; 

(9)  That  because  of  the  strong  desire  to  remain  independent 
of  the  wage  relation  and  the  limitations  placed  upon  the  occupa- 
tions in  which  they  may  engage,  the  Japanese  farmers  in  some 
instances  appear  not  to  have  been  discouraged  in  gaining  control 
of  land  as  long  as  there  was  a  prospect  of  a  small  profit  to  be 
realized.       O  s^^i^a^ 

^Though  in^many  localmes  the  Japanese  laborers  were  at  first 
received  with  great  favor,  widespread  dissatisfaction  with  them 
is  now  found  and  they  are  almost  always  disparagingly  compared 
with  the  Chinese,  who,  because  they  are  careful  workmen,  faithful 
to  the  employer,  uncomplaining,  easily  satisfied  with  regard  to 
living  quarters,  and  not  ambitious  to  learn  new  processes  and  to 
establish  themselves  as  independent  farmers,  are  used  in  the  older 
agricultural  district  as  the  standard  by  which  others  are  meas- 
ured/ Indeed,  while  the  largest  number  of  Japanese  were  arriv- 
ing 'and  there  was  no  great  question  of  an  insufficiency  of  num- 
bers, there  was  a  demand  for  a  limited  immigration  of  Chinese. 
Though  many  ranchers  think  that  for  social  reasons  it  would  be 
a  mistaken  policy  to  readmit  the  Chinese,  they  generally  regard 
Asiatic  laborers  as  indispensible  to  the  prosperity  and  expansion 
of  the  agricultural  industries  which  have  become  predominant  in 
the  state,  and  their  almost  unanimous  preference  is  for  Chinese 
rather  than  any  other  Asiatic  race. 

Perhaps  between  12,000  and  15,000  Japanese  are  employed  in 
the  eleven  states  and  territories  comprising  the  western  division, 
as  domestic  servants  in  private  families,  and  as  help  in  restaurants, 
hotels,  barrooms,  clubs,  offices,  and  stores  conducted  by  members 
of  the  white  races,  while  some  10,000  or  11,000  more  are  engaged 


266  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

in  business  for  themselves  or  are  employed  by  those  who  are 
thus  occupied,  or  are  professional  men  and  craftsmen  working  on 
their  own  account. 

In  certain  respects  the  Japanese  have  shown  a  great  capacity 
for  assimilation,  and  very  much  more  than  the  Chinese  and  the 
Mexicans  of  the  peon  class.  In  fact,  they  are  extremely  anxious 
to  learn  western  ways  and  methods  and  conform  at  least  to  the 
externals  of  the  civilization  into  which  they  have  come.  They 
have  organized  more  schools  for  the  acquirement  of  knowledge 
of  English  than  any  other  race,  and  in  spite  of  their  general 
colony  life  and  slight  association  with  other  races  they  have  made 
more  rapid  progress  in  learning  our  language  than  the  majority 
of  the  south  and  east  Europeans,  and  much  more  than  the 
Mexicans  and  Chinese,  who  have  shown  little  interest  in  such 
matters.  In  dress  and  all  superficial  matters  they  conform  to 
American  ways,  and  though  the  majority  adhere  to  the  Buddhist 
faith,  a  large  number,  especially  of  the  younger  student  class,  are 
professed  Christians  and  the  missions  are  usually  well  supported. 
Yet  there  are  race  characteristics  which  may  be  firmly  rooted — 
how  firmly  only  time  and  longer  association  with  other  races  will 
tell. 

But  whatever  their  capacities  for  assimilation,  the  general 
conditions  have  been,  and  are,  unfavorable  to  Japanese  laborers 
because  of  race  feeling  growing  out  of  difference  in  color,  char- 
acteristics, and  ideals,  because  of  the  economic  conflict  which  has 
taken  place,  especially  in  California,  and  (this  being  not  least  in 
importance)  because  these  laborers  came  from  the  same  quarter 
of  the  world  as  the  Chinese  and  fell  heir  to  their  industrial 
position  and  general  mode  of  life.  The  Japanese,  along  with  the 
Chinese,  are  regarded  as  differing  greatly  from  the  white  races 
they  have  lived  among,  and  a  strong  public  sentiment  has  segre- 
gated them,  if  not  in  their  work  in  other  details  of  their  living. 
This  practically  forbids,  when  not  expressed  in  law,  marriage 
between  them  and  persons  of  the  white  races,  and  where  a  con- 
siderable number  of  Japanese  have  appeared  in  a  community  race 
conflicts  have  frequently  resulted.  With  the  exception  of  those 
who  belong  to  the  business  classes,  the  Chinese  native-born  have 
found  limitations  placed  upon  them  so  that,  regardless  of  any 
capacity  they  may  have  for  Americanization,  they  do  not  differ 
materially  from  and  are  treated  as  if  foreign-born.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that,  with  large  numbers  of  laborers,  similar  limitations 


ON  IMMIGRATION  267 

—with    similar   results — would   be  placed   upon   the   native-born 
Japanese,  none  of  whom  has  yet  arrived  at  mature  age. 

Regulation  by  Treaty  and  Legislation* 

The  Chinese  began  to  come  to  California  in  the  early  so's. 
At.  first  they  were  welcomed,  but  when  their  competition  began 
to  be  felt  restrictive  legislation  was  demanded.  Various  state 
laws  were  passed.  In  1853  a  law  was  passed  taxing  all  foreign 
miners  which  in  practice  was  applied  only  to  the  Chinese.  In 
1855  a  tax  of  $55  was  imposed  on  every  Chinese  immigrant.  In 
1858  a  state  law  prohibited  all  Chinese  or  Mongolians  from 
entering  the  state.  This  continued  until  1876  when  a  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  rendered  all  state  legisla- 
tion unconstitutional  and  made  the  regulation  of  immigration  a 
national  function. 

National  Legislation 

1862.     Congress  passed  a  law  prohibiting  the  coolie  tnade. 
1868.    The  Burlingame  treaty  between  the  United  States  and 
China  declared  that 

Chinese  subjects  visiting  or  residing  in  the  United  States  shall  enjoy 
the  same  privileges,  immunities,  and  exemptions  in  respect  to  travel  or 
residence  as  may  there  be  enjoyed  by  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  the  most 
favored  nations. 

By  the  terms  of  this  treaty  the  rights  of  naturalization  were 
denied  the  Chinese. 

1875.  The  general  immigration  law  of  1875  prohibited  the 
importation  of  Chinese  women  for  purposes  of  prostitution  and 
the  immigration  of  convicts.  The  importation  of  Chinese  or  Japa- 
nese without  free  and  voluntary  consent  for  the  purpose  of 
holding  them  to  a  term  of  service  was  made  punishable  by 
imprisonment  or  a  heavy  fine.  The  importation  of  coolie  labor 
was  made  a  felony. 

1877.  The  report  of  a  joint  special  committee  sent  to  Cali- 
fornia to  study  the  question  was  made  to  Congress.  The  report 
consisted  of  a  denunciation  of  the  Chinese. 

1879.  President  Hayes  vetoed  a  bill  limiting  the  number 
of  Chinese  to  be  brought  in  by  any  one  vessel  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  an  abrogation  of  the  Burlingame  treaty. 

*  A  summary  based  on  the  Report  of  the  Immigration  Commission. 
M.  K.  R. 


268  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

1880.  The  failure  of  the  above  bill  led  to  a  new  treaty,  con- 
taining the  following : 

Whenever  in  the  opinion  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
the  coming  of  Chinese  laborers  to  the  United  States  or  their  residence 
therein,  affects  or  threatens  to  affect  the  interests  of  that  country,  or  to 
endanger  the  good  order  of  the  said  country,  or  of  any  locality  within 
the  territory  thereof,  the  Government  of  China  agrees  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  may  regulate,  limit,  or  suspend  such  coming 
or  residence,  but  may  not  absolutely  prohibit  it.  The  limitation  or  sus- 
pension shall  be  reasonable,  and  shall  apply  only  to  Chinese  who  may 
go  to  the  United  States  as  laborers,  other  classes  not  being  included  in 
the  limitations.  Legislation  taken  in  regard  to  Chinese  laborers  will  be 
of  such  a  character  only  as  is  necessary  to  enforce  the  regulation,  limi- 
tation, or  suspension  of  immigration,  and  immigrants  shall  not  be  subject 
to  personal  maltreatment  or  abuse. 

1882.  A  Chinese  exclusion  law  was  passed  providing  that 
immigration  of  Chinese  laborers  should  be  suspended  for  twenty 
years.  It  was  vetoed  by  President  Arthur,  but  in  an  amended 
form,  making  the  period  of  exclusion  ten  years,  it  was  approved 
and  became  i.  law. 

1884.  Amendments  were  made  tightening  the  above  exclusion 
provisions  for  the  purpose  of  making  evas/ons  less  possible. 

1888.  China  took  the  initiative  in  proposing  a  new  treaty 
prohibiting  the  emigration  of  Chinese  laborers  to  the  United 
States.  Such  a  treaty  was  drawn  up  but  was  not  ratified.  When 
the  treaty  failed  Congress  passed  a  bill  providing  for  exclusion. 
President  Cleveland  recommended  that  it  should  not  be  made  to 
apply  to  Chinese  then  on  the  way,  but  this  recommendation  was 
not  heeded. 

1892.  A  law  was  passed  continuing  the  law  of  1882  for 
another  ten  years.  It  declared  also  that  all  Chinese  in  the 
United  States  must  take  out  certificates  so  that  authorities  could 
know  their  whereabouts.  They  were  made  liable  to  deportation 
if  found  without  such  certificates  within  a  year. 

1894.  A  new  treaty  was  agreed  to  at  the  request  of  China. 
It  provided  for  exclusion  of  all  Chinese  laborers  for  a  term  of 
ten  years.  Those  going  back  were  allowed  to  return  here 
provided  they  had  a  wife,  child,  or  parent,  or  property  worth 
$1000  in  the  United  States.  Registration  was  still  required. 
This  treaty  covered  practically  the  same  ground  as  existing 
legislation. 

1902.  A  law  was  passed  providing  that  all  existing  laws  be 
reenacted,  to  continue  in  force  until  a  new  treaty  should  be  nego- 
tiated. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  269 

1904.  Upon  the  refusal  of  China  to  continue  the  treaty  of 
1894,  Congress  passed  legislation  extending  and  continuing  all 
laws  then  in  force.  All  legislation  was  extended  to  insular  pos- 
sessions. Certificates  of  residence  in  insular  possession  were 
required. 

1907.  In  1906  the  question  of  similar  legislation  against  the 
immigration  of  Japanese  came  up.  Bills  introduced  into  Congress 
providing  for  an  extension  of  Chinese  exclusion  act  to  embrace 
the  Japanese  failed  to  pass.  The  matter  was  finally  settled  by 
the  passport  provision  in  the  general  immigration  law  of  1907. 
This  provision  declares 

That  whenever  the  president  shall  be  satisfied  that  passports  issued 
by  any  foreign  government  to  its  citizens  to  go  to  any  country  other 
than  the  United  States  or  to  any  insular  possession  of  the  United  States 
or  to  the  Canal  Zone  are  being  used  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the 
holders  to  come  to  the  continental  territory  of  the  United  States  to  the 
detriment  of  labor  conditions  therein,  the  President  may  refuse  to  per- 
mit such  citizens  of  the  country  issuing  such  passports  to  enter  th,e  con- 
tinental territory  of  the  United  States  from  such  other  country  or  from 
such  insular  possessions  or  from  the  Canal  Zone. 

By  means  of  an  understanding  reached  with  Japan  at  this 
time  it  was  agreed 

That  the  Japanese  Government  shall  issue  passports  to  continental 
United  States  only  to  such  of  its  subjects  as  are  nonlaborers,  or  are 
laborers  who,  in  coming  to  the  continent,  seek  to  resume  a  formerly 
acquired  domicile,  to  join  a  parent,  wife,  or  children  residing  there,  or 
to  assume  active  control  of  an  already  possessed  interest  in  a  farming 
enterprise  in  this  country. 

1911.  A  treaty  of  commerce  and  navigation  was  entered  into 
with  Japan,  of  which  the  first  article  reads  as  follows : 

The  subjects  or  citizens  of  each  of  the  high  contracting  parties  shall 
have  liberty  to  enter,  travel,  and  reside  in  the  territories  of  the  other, 
to  carry  on  trade,  wholesale  and  retail,  to  own  or  lease  and  occupy 
houses,  manufactories,  warehouses,  and  shops,  to  employ  agents  of  their 
choice,  to  lease  land  for  residential  and  commercial  purposes,  and  gen- 
erally to  do  anything  incident  to  or  necessary  for  trade,  upon  the  same 
terms  as  native  subjects  or  citizens,-  submitting  themselves  ^to  the  laws 
and  regulations  there  established. 

They  shall  not  be  compelled,  under  any  pretext  whatever,  to  pay 
any  charges  or  taxes  other  or  higher  than  those  that  are  or  may  be  paid 
by  native  subjects  or  citizens. 

The  subjects  or  citizens  of  each  of  the  high  contracting  parties  shall 
receive,  in  the  territories  of  the  other,  the  most  constant  protection  and 
security  for  their  persons  and  property  and  shall  enjoy  in  this  respect 
the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  are  or  may  be  granted  to  native  sub- 


270  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

jects  or  citizens,  on  their  submitting  themselves  to  the  conditions  imposed 
upon  the  native  subjects  and  citizens.1 

1913.  California  passed  a  law  relating  to  the  ownership  of 
land  by  aliens.  Aliens  eligible  to  citizenship  are  given  the  same 
rights  as  citizens.  Other  aliens 

May  acquire,  possess,  enjoy  and  transfer  real  property,  or  any 
interest  therein,  in  this  state,  in  the  manner  and  to  the  extent  and  for 
the  purposes  prescribed  by  any  treaty2  now  existing  between  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  and  the  nation  or  country  of  which  such 
alien  is  a  citizen  or  subject  and  not  otherwise,  and  may  in  addition  thereto 
lease  lands  in  this  State  for  agricultural  purposes  for  a  term  not  exceed- 
ing three  years.  3 

Canada 

Chinese  are  kept  out  by  means  of  a  high  head  tax.  Every 
Chinaman  entering,  except  those  belonging  to  a  limited  exempt 
class,  is  required  to  pay  $500. 

An  agreement  with  Japan,  similar  to  that  existing  between 
Japan  and  the  United  States,  puts  a  check  on  Japanese  immi- 
gration. 

Hindus  are  excluded  by  means  of  a  provision  in  the  Canadian 
immigration  law  which  requires  that  immigrants  must  come  to 
the  Dominion  by  a  continuous  journey  from  the  country  of 
which  they  are  natives  and  upon  through  tickets  purchased  in 
that  country.  There  are  no  steamship  lines  operating  between 
India  and  Canada. 

1  Millis.     Japanese   Problem    in   the   United   States,   p.    313 

2  Note  that  the  ownership  of  land   is  not  specifically  mentioned  in   the 
Article   quoted  from  the  treaty. 

3  Millis.     Japanese  Problem  in  the  United  States,  p.  316. 


AFFIRMATIVE  DISCUSSION 

Outlook.     97:63-4.  January  14,  191 1 

Oriental    Immigration 

A  great  popular  conviction  may  be  false,  but  it  must  always 
be  taken  seriously  in  a  democracy.  There  is  a  great  popular 
conviction  on  the  Pacific  coast  that  Oriental  immigration  is 
perilous  to  American  institutions.  This  is  not  merely  a  class 
prejudice  of  laborers  against  competing  laborers.  In  1879  the 
Legislature  of  California  ordered  a  test  vote  to  be  taken  for  and 
against  Chinese  immigration.  The  result  was  that  out  of  162,000 
votes  there  were  but  638  for  such  immigration.  The  ballot  was 
secret;  the  conclusion  is  certain:  the  people  of  the  state  were 
then  practically  a  unit  against  such  immigration.  There  is  no 
reason  to  think  that  any  change  in  the  public  sentiment  of  the 
Pacific  coast  has  taken  place  since  that  time.  There  is  very 
good  reason  to  believe  that  it  now  extends  to  Japanese  as  well 
as  to  Chinese  immigration.  This  is  not  a  passing  passion ;  it 
is  not  a  class  prejudice;  it  is  a  permanent  conviction. 

Various  reasons  are  given  for  this  conviction,  but  they  are 
not  the  real,  certainly  not  the  fundamental,  reasons. 

The  real  reason  for  the  opposition  to  Oriental  immigration 
is  its  effect  on  the  future  of  America.  Zangwill  says  that  God 
is  throwing  all  European  races  into  the  melting-pot  and  forming 
out  of  them  the  America  of  the  future.  The  opponents  of  Orien- 
tal immigration  believe  that  the  Oriental  in  America  will  always 
remain  an  alien  element,  unassimilated  and  unassimilable.  The 
objection  is  well  put  by  a  philosophic  student  who  is  at  least 
without  local  prejudice,  Herbert  Spencer: 

I  have,  for  the  reasons  indicated,  entirely  approved  of  the  regulations 
which  have  been  established  in  America  for  restricting  Chinese  immigration, 
and  had  I  the  power  would  restrict  them  to  the  smallest  possible  amount; 
my  reason  for  this  decision  being  that  one  of  two  things  must  happen. 
If  the  Chinese  are  allowed  to  settle  extensively  in  America,  they  must 
either,  if  they  remain  unmixed,  form  a  subjective  race  standing  in  the 
position,  if  not  of  slaves,  yet  of  a  class  approaching  slaves;  or,  if  they 
mix,  they  must  form  a  bad  hybrid.  In  either  case,  supposing  the  immi- 
gration to  be  large,  immense  social  mischief  must  arise,  and  eventually 


272  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

social    disorganization.     The   same   thing  would   happen    if    there   should   be 
any  considerable  mixture  of  a  European  race  with  the  Japanese. 

This  peril  seems  to  the  Atlantic  coast  dweller  remote,  but 
this  is  because,  to  him,  the  problem  is  remote.  The  peril  is 
serious,  or  would  be  if  steps  had  not  already  been  taken  tc 
guard  against  it.  It  is  the  negro  problem  over  again,  made 
more  perilous  because  back  of  the  Oriental  immigration  are  two 
great  nations,  one  in  the  process  of  formation,  the  other  already 
one  of  the  great  world  powers.  In  the  judgment  of  The  Outlook 
Mr.  C.  H.  Rowell,  of  the  Fresno  "Republican,"  is  absolutely  right; 
''The  Pacific  coast  is  the  frontier  of  the  white  man's  world,  the 
culmination  of  the  westward  immigration  which  is  the  white 
man's  whole  history.  It  will  remain  the  frontier  so  long  as  we 
guard  it  as  such ;  no  longer.  Unless  it  is  maintained  there,  there 
is  no  other  line  at  which  it  can  be  maintained  without  more 
effort  than  American  government  and  American  civilization  are 
able  to  sustain."  We  do  not  agree  with  him  that  "there  is  no 
right  way  to  solve  a  race  problem  except  to  stop  it  before  it 
begins."  But  if  this  is  not  the  only  way,  it  is  the  simplest,  the 
easiest,  and  the  best  way.  In  the  case  of  the  European  races 
education  solves  the  problem.  The  educated  German,  Scandi- 
navian, or  Italian,  if  not  the  educated  Slav,  becomes  in  the 
second  or  third  generation  an  American.  But  the  educated 
Oriental  remains  an  Oriental.  Lafcadio  Hearn  had  certainly 
no  anti-Japanese  prejudice;  and  it  is  Lafcadio  Hearn  who  says: 
"The  Japanese  child  is  as  close  to  you  as  the  European  child— 
perhaps  cleaner  and  sweeter,  because  infinitely  more  natural 
and  refined.  Cultivate  his  mind,  and  the  more  it  is  cultivated, 
the  farther  you  push  him  from  you.  .  .  .  As  the  Oriental 
thinks  naturally  to  the  left  where  we  think  to  the  right,  the  more 
you  cultivate  him,  the  more  he  will  think  in  the  opposite  direction 
from  you." 

It  is  not  that  the  Chinese  and  the  Japanese  are  inferior  races ; 
it  is  that  they  are  different;  and  it  is  better  that  different  men, 
though  frankly  recognizing  one  another  as  equals  in  the  majoi 
qualities  of  civilization,  should  have  different  homes.  It  is  an 
old  adage  that  no  house  is  large  enough  for  two  families.  No 
nation  is  large  enough  for  two  races.  -The  East  for  the  Oriental, 
the  West  for  the  Occidental,  with  no  attempt  to  keep  house 
together  but  free  intermingling  in  international  trade  is  the 
true  solution  of  the  Oriental  problem.  This  is  the  solution  which 


ON  IMMIGRATION  273 

the  democratic  instinct  on  the  Pacific  coast  has  hit  upon.     And 
the  democratic  instinct  is  right. 


Congressional  Record.    40:3749-53.    March  13,  1906 

Japanese  Exclusion.     E.  A.  Hayes 

In  discussing  at  this  time  the  question  of  the  exclusion  of 
certain  classes  of  the  Japanese  from  our  shores,  and  particularly 
those  of  the  cooly  class,  I  am  undertaking  a  not  altogether 
pleasant  duty.  All  men  admire  courage.  The  valorous  achieve- 
ments of  any  nation  have  in  all  ages  challenged  the  admiration 
of  the  world.  And  when  a  weaker  nation,  making  up  for  its 
lack  of  numbers  by  its  energy,  courage,  and  discipline,  emerges 
from  a  contest  with  a  nation  numerically  much  stronger  with  the 
triumphant  success  which  has  recently  attended  the  arms  of 
Japan  in  its  contest  with  Russia  we,  in  common  with  the  rest  of 
the  world,  shout  our  bravos  to  the  plucky  little  island  nation.  In 
what  I  shall  say  upon  this  question  I  wish  not  to  be  understood 
as  detracting  in  the  least  from  the  credit  due  the  Japanese  people 
for  what  in  the  past  half  century  they  have  accomplished  in  war 
and  peace.  Their  achievements,  which  are  not  small,  are  the  com- 
mon heritage  of  mankind,  and  for  that  reason  I  glory  in  them. 
I  would  not  that  the  United  States  should  put  one  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  the  progress  of  our  sister  nation.  Rather  I  would 
help  her  in  her  upward  and  onward  march  all  that  we  can 
without  injury  to  ourselves. 

[The  question  raised  by  the  bill  to  which  I  have  referred  is  in 
no  sense  an  international  one.  It  is  purely  local  in  character. 
The  right  of  every  nation  to  regulate  without  interference  the 
coming  of  aliens  into  its  territory  has  been  universally  recog- 
nized in  every  age  of  the  world's  history.*  It  is  a  right  that  we 
as  a  nation  have  claimed  and  exercised  in  the  past  and  still  claim 
and  exercise.  The  question  of  Japanese  exclusion  should  there- 
fore be  settled  not  as  a  question  of  international  law,  but  solely 
as  a  question  of  domestic  policy.  As  it  better  for  this  nation  that 
the  Japanese  people  should  be  allowed  to  come  and  settle  among 
us  as  we  allow  aliens  of  the  Caucasian  race  to  come,  or  is  it 
better  for  the  whole  people  of  our  country  that  they  should  be 
wholly  or  partly  excluded?  This  question  answered  and  the 
whole  matter  should  be  regarded  as  settled.  \ 


274  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

The  Japanese  have  made  such  strides  and  have  been  out- 
wardly so  transformed  in  the  past  fifty  years  that  those  of  our 
fellow-citizens  who  only  know  them  from  a  distance  are  apt 
to  be  filled  with  unmixed  admiration.  A  personal  contact  close 
enough  and  long  enough  to  pierce  the  outside  veneer  gives  one 
an  entirely  different  impression,  however.  A  close  acquaintance 
shows  one  that  unblushing  lying  is  so  universal  among  the  Jap- 
anese as  10  be  one  of  the  leading  national  traits ;  that  commercial 
honor,  even  among  her  commercial  classes,  is  so  rare  as  to  be 
only  the  exception  that  proves  the  reverse  rule,  and  that  the 
vast  majority  of  the  Japanese  people  do  not  understand  the 
meaning  of  the  word  "morality,"  but  are  given  up  to  practice 
of  licentiousness  more  generally  than  any  nation  in  the  world 
justly  making  any  pretense  to  civilization.  I  am  told  by  those 
who  have  lived  in  Japan  and  understand  its  language  that  there 
is  no  word  in  Japanese  corresponding  to  "sin,"  because  there  is 
in  the  ordinary  Japanese  mind  no  conception  of  its  meaning. 
There  is  no  word  corresponding  to  our  word  "home,"  because 
there  is  nothing  in  the  Japanese  domestic  life  corresponding  to 
the  home  as  we  know  it.  "The  Japanese  language  has  no  term 
for  'privacy.'  They  lack  the  term  and  the  clear  idea  because 
they  lack  the  practice." 

As  showing  the  Japanese  as  we  have  him  in  California,  let  me 
quote  a  few  eminent  authorities  in  support  of  what  I  have  said 
and  shall  say  of  some  of  his  leading  characteristics. 

Prof.  James  A.  B.  Scherer,  now  president  of  Newberry  Col- 
lege, South  Carolina,  and  for  many  years  a  teacher  in  the  gov- 
ernment schools  of  Japan,  says: 

The  Japanese  have  changed  in  outward  appearance  so  thoroughly  that 
many  have  been  deceived  into  believing  the  change  complete,  and  that  a 
nation  can  be  really  born  in  a  day.  .  .  .  Certainly  there  has  been 
no  inner  transformation  commensurate  with  the  outward.  Japan  has 
a  renaissance,  but  not  a  reformation.  Over  the  hot  and  still  active  fires 
of  traditional  sentiment,  ethic  emotions,  and  hereditary  customs  a  thin 
crust  of  modern  western  civilization  has  been  laid.  The  crust  is  the 
appearance  the  unassuaged  but  concealed  interior  fires  are  the  dominant 
reality.  Deceived  travelers,  sometimes  with  the  best  of  intentions,  con- 
fuse manners  with  morals,  outward  refinement  with  religion,  and  civiliza- 
tion with  Christian  conduct.  Because  they  see  outward  polish  they  argue 
to  a  change  of  heart.  .  .  .  There  could  be  no  greater  mistake. 

And  again: 

Let  us,   for  the  present,  pass   by  the   fact   that  commercial  integrity   is 


ON  IMMIGRATION  275 

almost  unknown  among  the  majority  of  Japanese  merchants;  that  it  is  a 
rare  thing  for  native  dealers  to  keep  their  contracts,  and  go  on  to  the 
deeper  things  of  the  heart  and  life. 

When  the  laborer  with  American  ideals — with  a  home  to 
maintain,  a  family  to  support,  and  children  to  educate — sees  his 
job  taken  by  a  man  wholly  alien  in  race,  with  no  family  ties  or 
responsibilities,  and  who,  by  the  laws  of  our  country,  can  never 
be  admitted  to  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship,  he  would  not 
be  worthy  of  the  name  of  freeman  if  he  did  not  fight  for  his 
home,  his  wife,  and  his  children  with  every  weapon  at  his  com- 
mand. He  would  be  far  from  the  intelligent  laborer  that  he  is 
reputed  to  be  if  he  did  not  organize  and  join  with  his  fellows 
to  more  effectually  fight  the  common  enemy. 

The  white  people  of  the  Pacific  coast  have  no  relations  of  a 
social  nature  with  the  Japanese  now  there,  and  it  is  not  desirable 
that  they  should  have.  There  is  no  mingling  or  fraternizing 
between  the  two  races,  while  in  the  hearts  of  the  white  laborers 
this  natural  antagonism  is  rapidly  growing  into  a  feeling  of 
enmity  and  hatred  for  the  race  which  is  taking  away  their 
means  of  subsistence  by  greatly  underbidding  them  in  the  labor 
market.  If  the  present  influx  of  Asiatics  continues,  the  race 
question  will  soon  be  more  acute  on  the  Pacific  coast  than  it 
has  been  in  the  states  of  the  South.  We  already  have  one  race, 
problem  on  our  hands,  the  solution  of  which  no  man  can  see, 
and  I  aver  that  this  is  enough  without  importing  another  one. 

Sunset.     31:122-7.     July  1913 

Keeping  the  Coast  Clear.    Arthur  Dunn 

Captain  Togo — later  the  Japanese  admiral  who  swept  Russia 
off  the  sea — steamed  a  cruiser  belonging  to  his  imperial  majesty's 
navy  to  Honolulu,  and  dropped  anchor  just  outside  the  little 
harbor.  Hawaiian  officialdom  of  that  day  had  good  reason  to 
believe  that  Captain  Togo  was  under  very  positive  orders  from 
his  government  to  take  a  hand  in  the  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  the  islands,  then  torn  by  internal  dissensions  and  strife. 
But  the  American  flag  floated  from  the  staff  of  the  government 
building,  for  possession  of  which  Liliuokalani,  the  dethroned 
queen,  was  making  urgent  appeals  to  Washington.  The  Ameri- 
can flag  was  up  because  John  L.  Stevens,  the  United  States 

18 


276  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

minister,  felt  justified  in  granting  a  temporary  protectorate  to  the 
provisional  government. 

That  was  February  28,  1893 — the  beginning  of  the  Japanese 
question  which  has  lately  occupied  the  attention  of  diplomatists 
in  Japan  and  the  United  States.  Had  the  American  flag  not 
been  up;  had  there  been  no  protectorate;  had  Uncle  Sam's 
marines  not  been  ashore ;  well,  Minister  Stevens  would  not 
have  been  reprimanded,  two  presidents  of  the  United  States 
perplexed,  the  Congress  vexed — and  the  Sandwich  islands,  truly 
named,  would  have  been  absorbed,  in  a  single  bite,  by  his 
imperial  majesty,  the  Emperor  of  Japan. 

Incidentally,  there  would  be  no  Japanese  question  agitating 
California  and  the  Pacific  coast,  nor  concerning  the  statesmen 
of  the  United  States  and  of  Japan,  each  particular  as  to  the 
possession  of  respective  rights,  and  all  full  of  pride  and  patriot- 
ism. 

But  the  flag  was  there. 

When  the  strenuous  history  of  '93  was  in  the  making,  Japanese 
in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  numbered  only  12,360.  In  1910,  the 
census  enumerators  discovered  there  were  79,674  Japanese  on 
,the  islands,  the  total  population  of  which  is  191,909,  so  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  Japanese  are  very  rapidly  approaching  numerical 
dominance  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

As  it  is,  they  are  making  rapid  incursions  into  the  com- 
mercial life  of  the  islands;  indeed,  sugar  planters,  in  their 
propaganda  designed  to  defeat  the  adoption  of  the  free-sugar 
tariff,  insist  that  the  Japanese  will  dominate  absolutely  that 
industry  in  the  event  of  free  sugar — and  all  because  the  Japanese, 
to  a  large  extent,  can  and  do  control  the  labor  market  of  Hawaii. 
Japanese  are  making  headway  in  the  pineapple  industry,  both  as 
growers  and  canners ;  Japanese  have  stores  and  shops  of  all 
characters ;  Japanese  virtually  do  the  provisioning  and  victualizing 
of  the  entire  population,  in  many  instances  including  the  United 
States  troops  stationed  on  the  islands.  They  are  servants  or 
skilled  artisans  as  occasion  requires ;  no  station  too  high  for 
them  to  aspire  to  it,  no  place  too  lowly  for  them  to  occupy. 
They  are  ingenious  as  well  as  industrious — I  discovered  only  one 
Japanese  convicted  of  vagrancy.  They  attend  the  public  schools 
and  sing  our  songs,  play  our  games — but  they  remain  Japanese, 
always.  They  are  not  assimilable. 

That   is  the  vision   that    California  and  all   the   Pacific  see 


ON  IMMIGRATION  277 

upon  the  western  horizon,  and  it  is  the  vivid  picture  of  the  future, 
rather  than  the  living  present,  that  has  startled.  It  must  not 
be  thought,  because  Japanese  own  12,726  acres  of  California  lands 
and  have  under  lease-hold  20,294  acres,  that  California  is  in 
possession  of  the  Japanese.  She  is  not.  California  never  will 
be,  any  more  than  it  would  have  been  possible  for  the  Chinese 
to  have  predominated  in  the  days  when  the  Asiatic  exclusion 
discussion  was  most  intense.  But  California  does  not  purpose 
inviting  an  economic  struggle  with  the  Japanese,  for  manifestly, 
the  West  cannot  meet  the  Far  East  on  the  same  level — the 
standards  of  living  are  not  and  never  can  be  even  remotely 
similar. 

California's  opposition  is  not  because  of  race  hatred — there  is 
no  racial  problem  involved  in  the  determination  to  eliminate  the 
Japanese  from  economic  consideration.  Candidly  California  ac- 
knowledges that  Japanese,  given  free  rein  within  her  borders, 
would  become  commercial  competitors  against  whom  the  white 
man  could  not  hope  to  struggle  successfully,  for  the  Japanese, 
through  sacrificial  effort,  are  capable  of  accomplishing  greater 
results  than  the  white  man,  ever  eager  for  his  own  personal 
pleasures  and  comforts.  One  is  willing  to  work,  work,  work — 
the  other  insists  upon  varying  his  industry  with  a  little  honk- 
honking  along  the  highway  of  joy;  one  will  pillow  his  head 
upon  a  rock,  if  need  be,  and  rest  content;  the  other  insists  upon 
the  maintenance  of  a  standard  which  refuses  the  rock.  Tokyo 
may  assert  that  her  national  pride  has  been  pricked,  but  never- 
theless she  knows  that  the  real  cause  of  the  tempest  is  that  her 
subjects  figuratively  have  been  picking  California's  pockets  of 
profits  and  rapidly  are  attaining  complete  mastery  of  the  com- 
munities in  which  they  have  settled. 

Jingoes  in  the  United  States  and  in  Japan  have  been  dis- 
cussing the  relative  fighting  strength  of  both  countries,  as  if 
either  was  spoiling  for  a  fight.  In  Hawaii,  which  frankly  is  pro- 
Japanese,  it  has  been  common  talk  that  the  Japanese  could  take 
possession  of  the  Philippines  and  the  Hawaiian  group.  People 
whisper  stories  of  the  utter  unpreparedness  of  the  United  States, 
so  far  as  Hawaii  is  concerned.  The  Diamond  Head  fortifica- 
tions are  weak,  big  guns  are  lacking  at  Fort  De  Russy,  Pearl 
Harbor  dock  has  collapsed — these  and  a  thousand  other  asser- 
tions are  drooled  out  by  the  jingoes. 

But  there  will  be  no  war  with  Japan  because  of  California's 


278  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

attitude  on  the  ownership  by  aliens  of  agricultural  lands.  Japan 
is  not  anxious  to  fight,  any  more  than  California  is  seeking  to 
provoke  a  conflict. 

The  Spirit  of  the  West  is  positively  opposed  to  all  aliens 
who  cannot  be  assimilated.  It  has  been  so  since  the  pioneers 
dared  the  dangers  of  the  plains,  and  penetrated  the  unknown  to 
build  that  vast  empire  that  is  producing  more  than  one-half  of 
the  nation's  wealth.  There  is  no  alternative  for  the  West  as 
between  Japanization  and  Americanization.  The  attitude  of  the 
West  is  best  exemplified  in  the  story  of  a  sportsman,  hunting  in 
California.  His  companion  was  a  youth,  the  son  of  an  emigrant, 
whose  name  was  almost  unpronounceable,  so  recently  had  it  been 
transplanted  here.  The  hunters  wandered  from  the  trail,  and 
after  a  time  the  youth  came  upon  a  hut.  He  went  to  inquire  the 
proper  road,  but  came  back  disappointed. 

"They're  a  bunch  of  foreigners  and  don't  know  nothin',"  he 
complained. 

The  second  generation  is  thoroughly  American  nine  times  out 
of  ten — the  tenth  it  is  Japanese. 

Nation.    98:  724-5.    June  18,  1914 

Immigration  from  the  Orient.     H.  C.  Nutting 

To  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  NATION  : 

SIR  :  The  problem  of  Oriental  immigration  is  so  complex 
that  it  will  be  a  misfortune  of  the  first  magnitude  if  this  question 
is  allowed  to  go  by  default,  or  any  attempt  is  made  to  settle  it 
without  thorough,  painstaking,  and  sympathetic  investigation. 

The  writer  is  a  native  and  long  resident  of  New  York,  but 
for  some  years  has  been  an  "adopted"  Californian.  Realizing 
how  hard  it  is  for  people  who  live  at  a  distance  to  appreciate 
fully  this  great  problem,  it  has  seemed  to  me  worth  while  to 
present  my  views,  which  are  those  of  an  easterner  on  the  ground. 

The  first  point  that  needs  to  be  made  clear  is  the  matter  of 
relative  density  of  population.  People  know,  of  course,  in  a 
general  way,  that  the  Atlantic  seaboard  is  more  densely  popu- 
lated than  the  Pacific ;  but  few  actually  realize  that  the  combined 
census  returns  for  the  great  States  of  Washington,  Oregon,  and 
California  show  a  population  only  a  little  larger  than  one-half 
that  of  the  city  of  New  York,  Without  further  argument,  it 


ON  IMMIGRATION  279 

will  be  at  once  evident  to  any  thoughtful  reader  that  the  Pacific 
states  are  not  in  a  position  to  desire  any  considerable  alien 
population.  The  eastern  states  may  be  able  to  welcome,  by  the 
hundred  thousand,  foreigners  of  a  type  that  cannot  be  assimil- 
ated; but  at  present  the  Pacific  states  cannot  with  safety  assume 
such  a  burden. 

For  any  real  understanding  of  the  situation,  it  should  be 
noted,  in  the  second  place,  that  the  people  of  the  coast  states  are 
in  a  measure  isolated  from  the  thickly  populated  districts  of  the 
United  States.  To  the  east  lies  Nevada,  with  an  area  exceeding 
that  of  New  York  State  and  Pennsylvania  combined,  yet  support- 
ing a  population  of  only  about  fifty  thousand  in  all;  and  adjoining 
it  on  the  south  is  the  vast  State  of  Arizona,  with  approximately 
three  times  as  many  inhabitants.  It  thus  happens  that  the  three 
million  people  who  thinly  fringe  the  Pacific  slope  are  separated 
from  the  more  densely  populated  centres  by  hundreds  of  miles  of 
mountain  and  desert,  spanned  at  great  intervals  by  long  stretches 
of  lonely,  single-track  railway. 

/  Over  against  this  somewhat  isolated  outpost  of  Caucasian 
civilization  lies  China  with  a  population  of  450,000,000  crowded 
into  an  area  but  little  larger  than  that  of  the  United  States,  and 
Japan,  supporting  its  50,000,000  inhabitants  upon  a  territory 
about  the  size  of  California.  That  these  prolific  eastern  nations 
greatly  need  an  outlet  for  surplus  population  is  obvious ;  and  it 
is  equally  clear  that  they  would  ultimately  overflow  our  inviting 

\shores  in  great  waves  were  there  no  barriers  to  prevent. 

A  careful  investigation  could  not  fail  to  discredit  the  offhand 
judgment  (now,  doubtless,  prevalent  in  some  quarters)  that  the 
restiveness  of  the  people  of  the  coast  is  the  result  of  race  preju- 
dice merely.  Some  race  prejudice  there  no  doubt  is;  but  that  is 
not  the  factor  which  has  brought  the  immigration  question  to  an 
issue.  The  Chinese  have  long  been  on  the  coast;  but  their 
retiring  ways  and  the  fact  that  their  business  activity  is  limited 
for  the  most  part  to  a  few  special  fields  has  made  their  presence 
little  felt.  The  coming  of  the  Japanese  has  put  an  entirely  new 
face  upon  the  matter.  At  least  four  factors  have  contributed  to 
this  result:  (i)  The  numbers  in  which  the  Japanese  have  come; 
(2)  the  fact  that  immigration  from  Japan  is  not  controlled  by 
our  federal  government ;  (3)  the  economic  disturbance  caused  by 
this  immigration,  and  (4)  the  attitude  taken  by  the  Japanese 
themselves. 


2&o  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

The  thing  of  prime  importance  in  this  whole  question  is  that 
a  definite  understanding  regarding  Oriental  immigration  be 
reached  while  matters  are  yet  in  the  incipient  stage.  Now  is  the 
time  to  settle  the  matter,  while  the  situation  is  well  within  our 
control.  If  it  is  allowed  to  drift  along,  there  is  grave  danger 
that  we  shall  bequeath  to  the  next  generation  a  problem  which 
they  will  be  unable  to  handle.  The  Chinese  alone  could  repeople 
the  United  States  two  or  three  times  over  without  depopulating 
their  own  country.  And  those  who  have  seen  at  first  hand 
conditions  in  the  southern  states,  where  two  races  come  into 
daily  contact  and  yet  may  not  amalgamate,  will  surely  agree 
that  it  would  be  little  short  of  a  crime  to  allow  an  analogous 
situation  to  develop  in  another  large  section  of  our  country — 
a  situation  which  in  this  case  would  be  further  complicated  by 
the  attitude  of  the  home  governments  of  the  alien  peoples. 

Dr.  S.  L.  Gulick,  who  has  recently  been  lecturing  in  the 
United  States  in  the  interest  of  the  Japanese,  has  described  in  an 
interesting  way  the  elaborate  bureau  of  information  maintained 
by  the  Japanese,  whereby  agents  in  every  country  gather  accurate 
information  bearing  on  all  important  questions  for  the  use  of  the 
home  government.  It  is  very  probable,  therefore,  that  conditions 
on  the  Pacific  coast  are  better  known  in  Tokio  than  in  Wash- 
ington. If  this  be  a  fact,  the  moral  is  obvious. 

In  conclusion  I  would  add  a  suggestion  or  two:  (i)  That  it 
ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  an  evidence  of  ill-will  towards  any 
nation  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  desire  that  the 
Pacific  coast  shall  remain  in  the  unquestioned  possession  of 
Caucasians,  and  (2)  that  it  is  not  by  any  means  inevitable  that 
a  righteous  solution  of  this  question  can  be  reached  only 
through  an  adjustment  which  requires  a  wholesale  sacrifice  of 
the  well-being  of  our  own  citizens.  It  would  not  be  unnatural,  of 
course,  that  the  nations  of  the  Orient,  as  they  develop  and  push 
forward  to  places  in  the  world  family,  should  at  first  fail  to 
realize  that  manhood's  estate  brings  with  it  responsibilities  and 
restraints  as  well  as  honors  and  privileges.  But  it  may  ulti- 
mately become  clear  to  all  that,  in  questions  such  as  the  one  now 
under  discussion,  it  may  be  the  duty  of  an  Oriental  people  to 
submit  cheerfully  to  restrictions  that  are  essential  to  the  social 
and  economic  well-being  of  a  friendly  neighbor. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  281 

Harper's  Weekly.     51:1484.     October  12,  1907 
Real  Pacific  Question.     Sydney  Brooks 

The  parallel  between  the  conditions  in  the  American  state 
and  in  the  Canadian  province,  is,  indeed,  singularly  close.  In 
both  districts  you  find  a  comparatively  small  English-speaking 
community  scattered  over  a  beautiful  and  bountiful  country. 
Both  front  upon  the  Pacific,  and  are  equally  exposed  to  emigra- 
tion from  the  Orient.  Both  are  only  in  the  first  stage  of  their 
material  development,  and  both  suffer  from  a  chronic  shortage  of 
labor.  Each  has  experimented  with  the  Chinese  coolie,  and  each 
for  deeper  reasons  than  mere  local  trade-union  jealousy  has  felt 
compelled  to  bring  the  experiment  to  an  end. 

Even  the  minor  circumstances  and  expediencies  of  the  two 
dilemmas  are  curiously  similar.  The  immediate  interest  of  both 
California  and  British  Columbia  is  to  import  all  the  labor  they 
can  lay  hands  on.  Such  material  progress  as  they  have  already 
compassed  would  unquestionably  have  been  beyond  their  capacity 
to  produce  had  it  not  been  for  the  coolies  of  the  Asiatic  main- 
land. On  both  sides  of  the  boundary-line  the  capitalists,  there 
can  be  little  question,  would  favor  a  reasonable,  and  even  a  lib- 
eral influx  of  Asiatic  coolies,  would  even,  I  think,  be  prepared  to 
evolve  a  community  based  upon  a  system  of  indentured  and 
semi-servile  labor.  But  the  masses  both  in  California  and  British 
Columbia,  with  a  sounder  though  not  necessarily  a  less  selfish 
instinct,  reject  any  such  plan  with  unanimous  ferocity.  It  still, 
however,  remains  the  fact  that  the  Asiatic  colonies  in  and  around 
San  Francisco  and  Vancouver  contribute  vitally  to  the  economic 
and  industrial  fabric  of  the  communities  in  which  they  have 
settled;  that  the  Japanese  especially  make  cheery,  industrious, 
peaceable  immigrants,  not  meddling  with  politics,  rarely  if  ever 
becoming  a  charge  on  the  local  treasury,  but  living  simply  and 
innocuously  though  without  a  trace  of  Chinese  squalor,  supporting 
their  own  churches,  publishing  their  own  papers,  and  providing 
the  unskilled  labor  of  which  neither  the  railroads,  nor  the  farm- 
ers, not  the  fruit-growers,  nor  the  mines,  nor  the  canneries  can 
ever  have  enough. 

But  the  question,  it  is  rightly  felt,  is  not  one  to  be  settled  on 
merely  utilitarian  grounds.  Admitting  to  the  full  the  service- 
ableness  and  the  virtues  of  the  Japanese  coolies,  it  is  still  pro- 
foundly true  that  their  unrestricted  immigration  means  the 


282  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

planting  in  California  and  British  Columbia  of  a  vast  alien 
colony,  exclusive,  inscrutable,  unassimilative,  bound  together -in 
an  offensive  and  defensive  organization,  with  fewer  wants  and  a 
lower  standard  of  living  than  their  neighbors,  maintaining  intact 
their  peculiar  customs  and  characteristics,  morals,  and  ideals  of 
home  and  family  life,  with  neither  the  wish  nor  the  capacity  to 
amalgamate,  or  even  conform,  with  the  civilization  upon  which 
they  have  intruded,  and  gradually,  by  the  mere  pressure  of  num- 
bers, undermining  the  very  foundations  of  the  white  man's  well- 
_being.  To  such  a  visitation  California  and  British  Columbia  may 
well  object;  from  such  a  prospect  they  may  well  shrink.  Their 
industries  may  be  retarded,  their  crops  go  unharvested,  the  yield 
of  their  vineyards  and  fruit-farms  may  rot  away  through  sheer 
lack  of  the  indispensable  labor,  their  whole  progress  may  be 
checked — these  are  but  the  passing  exigencies  of  a  day.  What 
they  have  to  safeguard  is  the  future  and  the  distinctiveness  of 
their  race  and  civilization,  and  in  their  passionate  and  unalterable 
conviction  they  cannot  be  protected  unless  the  free  ingress  of 
Orientals  is  restricted  and  regulated. 

This  is  the  real  Pacific  question — not  a  question  of  naval  or 
commercial  supremacy,  but  of  the  social  and  economic  relations 
that  are  to  obtain  between  the  white  and  yellow  peoples.  Among 
the  English-speaking  communities  that  border  the  Pacific,  whether 
they  live  under  the  Union  Jack  or  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes, 
there  exists  a  deep  instinctive  popular  determination — one  of 
those  irresistible  movements  of  opinion  which  the  highest  states- 
manship may  possible  succeed  in  guiding,  but  which  no  states- 
manship can  hope  to  stem — to  exclude  from  their  sparsely-settled 
territories  the  concentrated  masses  of  China  and  Japan.  It  is  a 
determination  ministered  to  by  the  jealousy  of  trade-unionism, 
and  by  all  the  ugly  instincts  of  racial  antipathy.  But  it  has  also 
its  better  side.  The  English-speaking  peoples  and  the  type  of 
civilization,  manners,  morals,  and  beliefs  which  they  represent, 
stand  for  a  cause  that  demands  and  deserves  the  last  support  that 
can  be  given  it.  California,  British  Columbia,  New  Zealand, 
and  Australia  know  this  and  feel  it  already.  It  will  not  be  long 
before  Great  Britain  and  the  whole  of  America  know  it  and  feel 
it,  too.  There  is  no  more  urgent  need  than  that  the  problem  of 
Asiatic  immigration  into  English-speaking  countries  should  be 
taken  out  of  the  hands  of  mobs  and  vested  in  those  of  statesmen. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  283 

Independent.    62:26-33.    January  3,  1907 

Japanese  Question  from  a  Californian's  Standpoint. 
Julius  Kahn 

Now  any  one  who  is  at  all  familiar  with  the  two  races,  realizes 
fully,  and  will  state  unhesitatingly,  that  Occidental  and  Oriental 
civilizations  will  never  mix.  And  the  people  of  California,  after 
an  experience  of  over  half  a  century  with  Orientals,  feel  that 
they  understand  this  Asiatic  immigration  question  just  a  little 
better  than  many  of  their  well-meaning  countrymen  who  live 
about  three  thousand  miles  away  from  us,  and  who  have  beau- 
tiful theories  on  the  subject,  which,  however,  do  not  work 
out  well  in  practice. 

We  first  learned  to  know  the  Chinese  coolie  in  the  early  so's. 
He  was  brought  to  our  shores,  in  those  pioneer  days,  to  work 
in  our  gold  mines.  That  was  only  three  or  four  years  after  the 
discovery  of  the  yellow  metal  in  this  "New  Eldorado"  had  been 
heralded  to  the  world. 

He  was  a  cheap  workman,  his  wages  averaging  considerably 
lower  than  those  of  Caucasians  employed  in  similar  vocations. 
And  because  he  was  a  cheap  workman  he  was  brought  from 
China  in  increasing  numbers  as  the  years  rolled  on. 

There  is  no  denying  the  fact  that  he  was  a  docile,  untiring 
workman.  As  Kipling  truly  says,  he  seems  to  come  into  the 
world  with  "a  devil-born  capacity  for  doing  more  work  than  he 
ought."  From  daybreak  to  midnight,  in  season  and  out  of  season, 
weekdays  and  Sundays,  more  like  a  machine  than  a  human 
being,  he  toiled  away  in  his  stuffy  quarters,  where  light  and  air 
were  at  a  premium.  As  he  worked  for  a  mere  pittance,  he 
rapidly  drove  out  the  white  mechanic  from  many  fields  of  indus- 
try. Finally  race  riots  occurred,  and  California  appealed  to 
Congress  for  relief.  After  several  years  of  agitation .  laws 
excluding  Chinese  laborers  from  the  United  States  were  placed 
upon  our  statute  books,  and  altho  sporadic  attempts  have  been 
made  to  modify  or  repeal  those  laws,  they  have  remained  prac- 
tically intact  up  to  the  present  day. 

And  now,  once  more  California  is  threatened  with  an  Oriental 
invasion.  Since  the  great  disaster  which  overwhelmed  the  city  of 
San  Francisco  in  April  last,  Japanese  laborers  to  the  number, 
practically,  of  1000  per  month,  have  been  swarming  thru  the 


284  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

Golden  Gate;  and  I  think  that  I  am  not  stating  the  facts  too 
strongly  when  I  say  that  the  people  of  California  regard  these 
Japanese  coolies  with  greater  abhorrence,  aye,  with  greater  fear, 
than  they  did  the  coolies  from  China.  We  feel  that  the  former 
have  all  the  vices  of  the  Chinese,  with  few  or  none  of  their 
virtues.  In  business  they  are  absolutely  devoid  of  the  stern  sense 
of  honor  of  the  Chinaman.  The  latter  invariably  lives  up  to  the 
letter  of  his  obligation,  while  the  Japanese  never  hesitates  to 
break  that  obligation  if  it  suits  his  purpose  so  to  do.  Why,  even 
in  Japan  all  the  principal  banks  and  commercial  houses  employ 
Chinese  in  the  two  important  positions  of  compradore  and  shroff. 
The  compradore  is  the  purchasing  and  selling  agent  who  acts  as 
the  go-between  between  his  employer  and  the  firms  with  which 
he  does  business.  The  shroff  is  the  exchange  expert,  a  necessary 
adjunct  to  all  large  business  houses  in  a  land  where  the  value  of 
silver,  which  is  the  common  medium  of  exchange,  fluctuates 
from  hour  to  hour.  As  a  rule  foreign  firms  doing  business  in 
Japan  place  full  reliance  on  the  word  of  the  Chinese  compradore, 
even  tho  they  have  little  faith  in  the  integrity  of  the  Japanese 
proprietor.  And  if  the  bankers  and  business  men  are  not  to  be 
relied  on,  what  reliance  is  to  be  placed  on  the  lower  classes  of 
Japanese  society?  But  the  people  of  California  have  never  made 
objection  to  merchants,  bankers  and  professional  men  from 
Japan.  It  is  the  coolie  against  whom  they  protest.  And  just 
one  word  in  this  connection.  It  has  long  been  the  policy  of  our 
government  to  protect  the  products  of  our  farms,  our  factories 
and  our  workshops  from  the  products  of  the  pauper  labor  of 
Japan  and  all  other  countries.  Then  why  not  protect  the  work- 
man himself — the  man  who  creates  those  products  of  our  farms, 
our  factories  and  our  workshops,  from  that  very  pauper  laborer? 
Much  has  been  said  in  recent  discussions  to  the  effect  that  the 
Japanese  have  been  denied  their  treaty  rights  in  California.  The 
people  of  that  state  deny  this  assertion  most  emphatically.  But 
in  speaking  of  treaty  rights,  Californians  freely  express  the  belief 
that  the  existing  treaty,  under  which  Japanese  coolies  come  to  our 
shores  at  the  present  rate  of  1000  per  month,  is  not  an  altogether 
equitable  instrument.  They  contend,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  treaty 
is  altogether  one-sided.  True,  it  guarantees  to  the  citizens  of  either 
country  full  right  of  entrance  into  and  residence  in  the  territory 
of  the  other.  But  who  ever  heard  of  American  laborers,  or 
American  mechanics,  going  to  Japan  in  large  numbers?  Why, 


ON  IMMIGRATION  285 

industrial  conditions  in  the  "Land  of  the  Rising  Sun"  are 
absolutely  prohibitive,  so  far  as  the  emigration  of  the  American 
workman  to  that  country  is  concerned.  The  latter  receives  from 
$2.50  to  $7.00  a  day  in  his  own  land.  It  would  be  an  insult  to 
his  intelligence  to  assume  that  he  would  want  to  sail  to  far-off 
Nippon  for  the  privilege  of  working  there  at  the  prevailing  rate 
of  wages  paid  to  mechanics,  to  wit,  30,  40,  50  or  60  cents  a  day. 
It  is  the  high  wage  that  prevails  here  that  is  attracting  thousands 
of  the  little  brown  men  to  our  shores.  Unless  prohibited  by 
legislation  they  will  come  in  still  greater  number,  while  the 
number  of  Americans  who  expatriate  themselves  in  Japan,  by 
reason  of  the  conditions  that  prevail  there,  must,  necessarily, 
always  remain  limited.  And  for  these  reasons  Californians  feel 
that  the  treaty  with  Japan  is  entirely  one-sided. 

Congressional  Record.      42:3494-8.    March  17,  1908 

Shall  the  United   States  Exclude   the  Immigration  of  Japanese 
and  Korean  Laborers?     Burton  L.  French 

Nations  are  organized  and  perpetuated  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people  who  make  up  the  nation,  and  as  people  individually  have 
problems  to  solve  that  have  to  do  with  their  course  of  life,  so 
nations  have  problems  to  solve  which  bear  upon  their  perpetual 
well-being,  and  we  must  proudly  assume  that  our  nation's  life  is 
perpetual.  Many  acts  of  a  nation  are  merely  transitory  and  have 
but  a  passing  effect  upon  the  current  events  and  development  of 
the  nation ;  other  policies  of  the  nation  go  to  the  very  basic 
principles  upon  which  the  nation  rests. 

A  tariff  law  operates  indifferently  and  may  be  repealed  or 
continued  with  slight  effect  upon  the  ultimate  character  of  the 
nation;  a  financial  policy  may  be  changed  by  each  succeeding 
administration ;  great  government  improvements  have  to  do  with 
the  facility  with  which  business  is  handled,  but  not  one  of  these 
questions  strikes  vitally  at  the  highest  good  of  any  country.  The 
question  involved  with  respect  to  the  immigration  of  people  to 
our  shores  has  to  do  with  the  character  of  our  population,  of 
our  institutions,  of  our  religious,  ethical,  social,  and  political  life. 
Our  country  is  going  through  a  great  formative  period,  and  it  is 
the  duty  of  our  nation  to  have  a  guard  for  not  only  our  com- 
mercial and  industrial  well-being,  but  our  people  as  well.  More 


286  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

important  than  the  construction  of  railways,  the  building  of  cities, 
or  the  reclamation  of  arid  lands  is  the  safeguarding  of  our 
population,  and  in  safeguarding  our  population  one  of  the  primal 
things  to  which  our  minds  must  be  directed  is  the  blood  that  flows 
in  our  people's  veins.  Peoples  of  different  color  and  widely 
separated  racial  tendencies  do  not  live  side  by  side  under  the 
same  flag  in  peace  and  harmony. 

It  matters  not  the  relative  development  of  the  races;  it 
matters  not  that  they  are  equal  in  all  that  makes  for  highest 
manhood  and  for  purest  womanhood;  it  matters  only  that  their 
social  characteristics  are  separated  by  a  chasm  so  deep  that  it 
cannot  be  bridged  at  the  marriage  altar,  and  their  folklore  stories 
mingled  by  a  common  fireside.  Such  is  the  chasm  that  separates 
the  American  people  today  from  the  people  of  the  Orient.  It 
is  upon  this  ground  that  I  believe  they  should  be  excluded  from 
our  shores  in  such  a  manner  as  will  prevent  any  considerable 
number  from  ever  claiming  this  their  home.  This  can  be  done, 
I  believe,  by  the  exclusion  of  the  laboring  classes  of  the  Oriental 
countries.  On  the  other  hand,  realizing  the  vigor,  attainments, 
and  traditions  of  these  ancient  people,  realizing  that  they  have 
broken  the  spell  that  has  bound  them  as  recluse  nations  during 
the  centuries  gone  by,  we  may  well  afford  to  admit  their  scholars 
that  we  may  learn  from  them,  their  students  that  they  may  learn 
from  us,  their  merchants,  if  this  can  be  done  without  abuse,  that 
we  may  buy  from  them  the  product  of  their  genius,  and  through 
whom  we  may  in  turn  exploit  the  fruits  of  our  own  industrial 
thrift. 

The  relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  nations  of 
the  Orient  should  be  such  that  the  utmost  good  will  may  prevail. 
We  should  ask  nothing  from  them  that  we  would  not  as  cheer- 
fully concede.  As  the  years  go  by  we  will  become  more  and  more 
interdependent.  Notwithstanding  this,  our  growth  should  be  side 
by  side  and  not  by  mingling  the  population  of  America  on  the 
continent  of  Asia  and  the  population  of  Asia  upon  the  continent 
of  America.  It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  cardinal  principle  that 
the  greatest  internal  peace  belongs  to  that  nation  whose  people 
are  homogeneous,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  distrust,  unrest,  and 
internal  strife  are  the  undoubted  portion  of  the  nation  whose 
people  do  not  blend. 

Every  year  that  passes  will  bring  additionally  embarrassing 
political  questions  to  the  states  which  have  Oriental  voters.  It 


ON   IMMIGRATION  287 

is  not  to  be  supposed  that  these  voters  could  get  the  point  of 
view  that  the  American  would  have.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  they  would  fail  to  use  their  ballot  to  produce  practical 
results  for  themselves.  Every  year  that  passes  will  bring  in- 
creased difficulties  because  of  the  public  school  situation.  Every 
year  will  heighten  the  difference  between  the  Oriental  laborer 
and  the  white  laborer,  and  the  white  laborer  cannot  be  blamed 
for  standing  for  the  welfare  of  his  own  fireside.  Last  of  all, 
every  year  that  goes  by  without  positive  legislation  looking  to 
the  checking  of  Oriental  immigration  means  the  introduction  into 
our  midst  of  a  people  of  a  strange  blood  who  throughout  the 
centuries  to  come  will  retain  their  individuality  and  serve  as 
the  slumbering  embers  that  will  in  the  sometime  burst  into 
flames  of  international  wars  involving  our  own  country  and  the 
nations  of  the  Orient. 

We  may  talk  of  friendly  understanding  and  the  willingness 
of  the  Oriental  nations  to  prevent  the  immigration  of  their  people 
to  our  shores.  I  respect  the  sincerity  of  those  who  urge  this 
course,  but  I  have  n'o  confidence  in  the  merits  of  such  a  policy. 
We  cannot  leave  this  question  to  Japan  and  to  Korea  any  more 
than  thirty  years  ago  we  could  have  left  the  question  of  Chinese 
immigration  to  the  Chinese  government.  The  present  ministry 
may  favor  the  policy,  the  succeeding  one  may  oppose  it,  or  if  it 
favors  it,  the  ministry  may  not  prove  itself  efficient.  During  the 
last  few  days  the  people  of  Japan,  by  their  votes,  have  asked  for  a 
new  ministry.  Who  can  tell  the  policy  of  the  political  leaders 
who  will  now  assume  control?  Aye,  if  they  have  declared  their 
policy,  who  can  tell  how  faithfully  that  policy  will  be  executed 
or  what  will  be  the  policy  in  ten  years  from  now? 

Collier's.    51:12.    May  31,  1913 

World's  Most  Menacing   Problem 

The  question  involved  in  the  California  anti-alien  land  law 
is  not  for  today  alone.  It  is  for  generations  to  come.  It  is 
not  a  Japanese  question  alone.  It  is  a  Chinese  question,  a  Hindu 
question,  a  Korean  question,  a  Syrian  and  Armenian  question. 
It  is  not  a  matter  of  the  United  States  alone.  It  is  a  Canadian 
question,  an  Australian  question,  a  South  American  question,  a 
Mexican  question,  a  South  African  question,  a  New  Zealand 
question. 


288  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

It  is  a  world  question.     It  is  a  problem  for  all  time. 

It  is  the  local  outcropping  of  the  greatest  of  world  problems 
— the  riddle  of  the  intermingling  of  races. 

It  cannot  be  settled  on  the  narrow  basis  of  any  treaty  with 
Japan,  nor  on  the  local  basis  of  opinion  in  California,  nor  the 
feelings  of  the  people  of  all  the  states  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

It  ought  not  to  be  adjusted  by  the  people  of  the  United  States 
in  ignorance,  nor  prejudice,  nor  with  reference  to  political  plat- 
forms, nor  the  demand  for  cheap  labor. 

It  cannot  be  lightly  slighted  off.  It  is  an  irrepressible  struggle. 
It  will  persist  for  ages.  Its  complexities  and  its  menace  are 
bound  to  become  nearer  and  more  menacing  as  every  invention 
in  transportation  and  every  advance  in  commerce  brings  white 
men  and  brown  men  and  yellow  men  into  closer  and  closer 
contact  with  each  other. 

i — The  Wrong  Way  to  Approach  the  Question 

Let  us  consider  the  attitude  of  Japan  in  the  premises.  The 
Japanese  are  a  fine  and  strong  people.  They  are  very  proud, 
just  as  we  are  very  proud.  They  have  just  as  much  reason  to  be 
proud  as  we  have.  They  have  a  very  ancient  and  splendid  civili- 
zation. They  are  poets  and  artists  and  scientists.  They  have  a 
fine  system  of  ethics,  and  some  virtues  which  they  can  teach  us. 
In  patriotism,  in  enterprise,  in  efficiency,  all  along  the  line  of 
modern  life,  they  compare  favorably  with  all  other  peoples. 
They  are  not  inferior  to  us — let  that  be  admitted  at  the  outset. 
So  long  as  we  act  with  reference  to  them  on  the  theory  that 
they  are  inferior,  we  shall  be  in  the  wrong.  They  think  them- 
selves superior  to  us.  We  think  ourselves  superior  to  them. 
That  is  the  natural  attitude  of  the  mass  of  the  people  of  every 
land.  But  in  the  last  analysis  the  Japanese  will  be  entitled  to  the 
verdict  that  they  are  just  as  able,  just  as  efficient,  and  just  as 
good  as  we  are. 

2 — The  Necessity  for  Homogeneity  in  a  Democracy 

What  reason  can  we  find,  then,  for  making  laws  which  will 
tend  to  keep  the  Japanese  out?  Let  us  see  what  our  destiny  is 
and  how  it  must  be  worked  out,  determine  what  our  problems 
are,  and  see  what  effect  the  incoming  of  the  Orientals  would  have 
on  our  affairs : 

We  of  the  great  Caucasian  nations,  especially  the  English- 
speaking  nations,  have  unreservedly  committed  ourselves  to  the 


ON  IMMIGRATION  289 

theory  of  democracy.  We  are  more  and  more  accepting  democ- 
racy as  the  natural  order  of  things.  We  have  very  dreadful 
problems  to  work  out  through  the  instrument  of  the  ballot.  The 
ballot  rests  on  equality  of  rights,  of  more  or  less  common  views 
and  common  interests  among  the  people.  Voting  is  a  species  of 
conference.  Minds  meet  and  settle  questions  in  elections  no  less 
than  in  town  meetings. 

A  democracy  is  a  people  who  -reason  together  and  express 
their  decisions  by  their  votes.  If  they  do  not  speak  the  same 
language,  if  there  exists  a  great  body  of  matters  on  which  they 
cannot  come  to  a  mutual  understanding,  if  the  mental  gap  be- 
tween great  factions  among  them  is  too  great  to  be  bridged,  if 
for  any  reason  there  exists  any  irreconcilable  antagonism  among 
them,  if  great  bodies  of  them  are  in  economic  warfare,  the 
democracy  cannot  exist. 

That  is  why  we  are  already  in  such  deep  difficulties  with  our 
democracy.  We  have  many  antagonistic  classes.  We  have 
trying  times  ahead.  It  is  sure  to  be  hard  for  us  to  weather  the 
storms  which  these  problems  will  generate.  The  labor  question, 
the  trust  question,  the  growing  problem  of  farm  tenantry,  the 
amalgamation  of  the  millions  of  European  immigrants,  the  re- 
demption of  our  backward  population  in  the  Appalachian  Moun- 
tains— all  these  are  hard  things  to  solve. 

But  the  people  of  our  own  antagonistic  classes  look  alike 
and  feel  alike  toward  each  other  under  like  circumstances.  They 
can  and  do  mix.  Remove  the  reasons  for  enmity,  and  the  enmity 
vanishes.  Nobody  can  tell  a  northerner  from  a  southerner,  or  a 
Bohemian  from  a  Scotchman,  or  the  progeny  of  an  old  New 
York  anti-renter  from  the  descendant  of  a  patroon,  or  a  whisky 
insurrectionist's  progeny  from  the  descendant  of  a  soldier  sent 
to  put  down  the  insurrection,  so  far  as  looks  are  concerned. 
After  all,  our  contending  forces,  except  for  the  negro,  belong  to 
the  same  basic  race,  and  are  unable  to  tell  each  other  apart  in  a 
few  years  after  any  struggle  takes  place.  They  have  more  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  similarities  than  they  have  of  any  sort  of 
differences.  They.  mix. 

3 — The  Presence  of  the  Jap  Is  Inconsistent  with  Democracy 

It  is  different  with  the  Oriental.  His  color  sets  him  off  from 
the  rest  of  us  so  far  as  to  make  of  him  a  marked  man.  It 
may  be  urged  that  this  ought  not  to  make  any  difference,  that  a 
man  is  a  man,  no  matter  what  the  tint  of  his  skin.  Granted— 


2QO  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

but  this  is  a  democracy,  and  people  must  be  taken  as  they  are. 
We  cannot  fraternize  with  colored  peoples  as  we  do  with  each 
other.  They  feel  just  as  we  do  about  it.  We  cannot  do  the 
business  of  a  democracy  with  people  so  strongly  set  off  from 
us  in  racial  character.  Their  presence  among  us  in  great  num- 
bers raises  the  most  explosive  questions — questions  of  sex, 
marriage,  school  life,  church  life,  business  life,  traveling  prob- 
lems, questions  of  all  sorts  of  mingling.  Perhaps  these  questions 
ought  not  to  come  up,  but  to  urge  that  is  silly — they  will 
come  up. 

The  nation — every  nation — must  keep  out  peoples  whose  pres- 
ence will  complicate  this  matter  of  democratic  solidarity.  They 
must  be  kept  out,  not  because  they  are  inferior,  but  in  many 
cases  because  they  are  so  different.  For  these  reasons  California 
is  right  in  her  effort  to  keep  out  the  Japanese.  For  similar 
reasons  the  Japanese  are  right  in  all  the  laws  they  may  have 
enacted,  or  may  enact,  to  prevent  the  domestication  of  large 
numbers  of  Americans  there.  They  can  vote  us  out  of  their 
club  with  perfect  propriety.  We  can  and  must  vote  them  out 
of  our  club.  They  are  not  clubbable  with  the  great  masses  of 
the  greatest  Caucasian  club  in  the  world,  the  United  States. 

4 — We  Must  Exclude  any  Race   which  We  Cannot  Assimilate 

The  Japanese  are  not  pioneers.  If  they  were  they  could  find 
a  great  deal  of  new  land  in  the  northern  island  of  their  own  em- 
pire, in  Sakhalin,  and  in  Manchuria.  But  they  are  not  pioneers. 
They  prefer  tense  competition  with  men  in  settled  countries  to 
the  competition  with  nature  in  new  lands.  So  they  like  to 
emigrate  to  establish  societies,  like  that  of  California.  In 
these  societies  they  can  compete  successfully  with  anyone.  Their 
presence  here,  therefore  sets  up  an  economic  strife  which  is  em- 
phasized and  embittered  by  their  racial  dissimilarity  to  us.  If 
they  came  here  only  as  they  became  enamored  of  the  American 
people,  the  American  flag,  and  the  Caucasian  civilization,  we 
might  say  to  all:  "Welcome!" 

But  they  do  not  so  come.  They  do  not  like  us  any  better 
than  we  like  them.  They  do  not  understand  us  any  better 
than  we  understand  them.  They  cling  to  whatever  differences 
there  may  be  between  their  moral  standards  and  ours.  They  see 
the  many  respects  in  which  they  are  our  superiors,  and  fail  to 
understand  or  appreciate  the  many  respects  in  which  we  are 


ON  IMMIGRATION  291 

their  superiors.  They  do  not  mix.  They  are  hurled  into  our 
midst  like  javelins  by  the  expulsive  force  of  their  poverty.  This 
is  as  fundamental  an  objection  to  their  domestication  among  us 
as  their  marked  difference  in  looks. 

Their  presence  among  us  in  large  numbers  would  raise  a  race 
issue  far  worse  than  the  negro  problem.  For  while  the  negro 
and  the  white  have  failed  to  cooperate  in  working  out  our  prob- 
lem of  democracy,  while  we  have  great  difficulty  in  being  just 
to  the  negro,  and  while  the  negro  problem  is  recognized  as  our 
greatest  one,  it  would  be  worse  if  the  negroes  were  Japanese. 
For  the  negroes  have  no  home  government  to  which  they  can 
appeal — a  government  armed  and  inspired  with  the  fine  race 
pride  of  the  Japanese.  If  Santo  Domingo  and  Hayti  contained 
50,000,000  of  well-organized  negroes,  our  present  race  question 
would  be  one  of  war. 

We  must  not  have  war  with  Japan  or  China  or  a  freed  and 
independent  Hindustan.  Therefore  we  must  settle  this  matter 
now  before  it  is  too  late.  We  must  settle  it  now  on  the  basis  of 
our  right  to  exclude  a\ny  peoples  whom  we  do  not  think  we  can 
take  into  our  work  of  perfecting  democracy.  We  must  settle  it 
before  an  alien  nation  is  established  in  our  midst — a  nation  of 
marked  people,  proud  of  their  race,  and  ready  to  appeal  to  their 
ancient  and  powerful  empire  for  aid  in  every  quarrel  with  us. 
Half  a  million  Japanese  in  this  country  would  embroil  us  in  war 
with  Japan  within  half  a  decade.  Let  us  stop  the  influx  while 
the  numbers  are  small  and  their  interests  still  capable  of  being 
adjusted. 


292  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

Independent.     74: 1437-8.     June  26,  1913 

Japanese   Question   from  a   Californian   Standpoint. 
James    D.    Phelan. 

The  Japanese  problem  is  peculiarly  one  on  which  California 
has  a  right  to  speak  and  to  be  heard.  According  to  the  lasi 
census,  the  Japanese  population  in  the  United  States  was  71,722, 
of  which  55,100  were  in  California;  and  I  claim  that  notwith- 
standing the  "gentlemen's  agreement"  their  number  is  increas- 
ing. Japanese  are  smuggled  into  the  United  States  from  Mexico 
and  British  Columbia.  They  swarm  our  richest  valleys,  and 
have  invaded  our  cities  and  towns.  They  are  skilled  agricul- 
turists and  unassimilable,  and  therein  is  the  menace  of  their 
presence. 

All  the  white  man's  countries  fronting  the  Pacific  have  the 
same  problem,  and  have,  in  different  ways,  attempted  its  solution 
— Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  British  Columbia.  Now,  there 
must  be  some  reason  for  this  widespread  opposition  to  the  Jap- 
anese. It  is  this,  stated  in  the  terms  of  experience:  they  have 
driven  the  white  man  out  of  employment  in  his  own  country ;  they 
are  capable  of  exterminating  him  if  unrestrained.  The  Japanese 
have,  for  instance,  taken  possession  of  the  fisheries  of  the  Fraser 
River,  British  Columbia,  and  have  actually  displaced  the  English 
and  Canadian  fishermen.  In  Vaca  Valley,  and  in  parts  of  the 
Sacramento  and  Santa  Clara  valleys,  and  elsewhere  in  Califor- 
nia, they  have  in  a  like  manner  exterminated  the  white  settler. 
Their  method  is  this:  They  first  take  employment  as  laborers 
and  learn  the  business;  they  then  underbid  the  white  tenant  and 
take  a  lease ;  then  they  demand  a  share  of  the  crop,  and  finally 
acquire  the  fee  of  the  land  itself.  Here  we  find  the  salient  fact 
that  the  man  who  has  pioneered  the  country,  reared  his  family, 
and  created  all  the  evidences  of  our  Western  civilization — the 
church,  the  school,  the  theater,  the  social  life  and  the  higher 
aspirations  exprest  in  a  happy  home,  is  suddenly  thrown  in 
competition  for  existence  with  an  alien  who  respects  neither 
holidays  nor  hours  of  labor,  and  who  owes  no  duties  either  to 
society  or  to  the  state,  but  who  may  be  regarded  as  a  perfect 
human  machine,  given  to  ceaseless  and  unremitting  toil.  As 
such  he  is  a  success. 

In  the  place  of  a  sturdy  white  population — assimilable  and 


ON  IMMIGRATION  293 

homogeneous — we  have  an  alien,  incapable  of  assimilation,  loyal 
to  his  home  government,  and  hence  composing  a  permanent 
foreign  element  in  our  midst.  In  other  words,  we  have  cre- 
ated a  race  question,  against  which  all  history  has  warned  us; 
where  two  races  are  endeavoring  to  live  side  by  side,  one 
must  take  the  inferior  place,  or  an  irrepressible  conflict  is 
precipitated.  Just  as  a  foreign  substance  will  derange  the 
human  system  unless  it  is  expelled  or  encysted,  even  so  is  it 
with  the  body-politic.  The  Japanese  will  not  go,  and  will 
not  be  absorbed.  There  is  the  problem. 

In  the  lower  Santa  Clara  Valley  a  visitor  recently  one  Sun- 
day morning  beheld  a  large  number  of  Portuguese  and  Italian 
families  surrounded  by  their  children  and  friends  enjoying, 
in  a  rational  way,  their  holiday — the  day  of  rest.  These  peo- 
ple— who  soon  lose  their  racial  characteristics,  at  any  rate  in 
one  or  two  generations,  and  become  a  part  of  the  American 
population,  participating  in  the  political  and  social  life  of  their 
country — in  order  to  survive,  will  have  to  get  down  to  the 
level  of  the  Japanese,  and  pursue  the  same  methods.  In  this  same 
district,  the  visitor  also  saw,  on  this  Sabbath  morning,  large 
numbers  of  Japanese  working  in  the  fields,  where  intensive 
farming  is  carried  on  (in  which  also  the  Portuguese  are 
adepts),  and  by  their  side  working  were  their  women,  and 
on  the  backs  of  the  women  were  strapped  their  babes.  They 
work  thus  fourteen  to  sixteen  hours  a  day — eat  little  and  play 
not  at  all — and  already  thru  their  associations  have  substan- 
tially control  of  the  potato  market,  berry  market,  and  the 
cut  flower  market,  and  generally,  garden  truck. 

The  alien  land  law  is  enacted  to  prevent  this  class  of 
immigrants  getting  a  footing  on  American  soil,  because  so 
soon  as  they  get  a  footing,  they  are  capable  of  unconsciously 
'undermining  the  structure  which  the  Fathers  have  erected 
under  the  flag  of  the  United  States  for  the  perpetuation  of 
the  life,  liberty  and  happiness  of  their  own  people  and  those 
who  become  a  homogeneous  part  of  the  country's  population. 
Of  course,  the  naturalization  laws  were  addrest  to  Europeans 
and  did  not  contemplate  Orientals,  who,  even  in  the  earliest 
days,  were  regarded,  in  the  American  sense,  as  indigestible. 
The  men  who  originally  opposed  the  introduction  of  negro 
laborers  took  the  same  ground,  that  being  essentially  foreign 
and  unassimilable,  the  negro  would  create  a  race  classifica- 


294  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

tion,  which  would  be  repugnant  to  American  institutions  and 
would  destroy  the  idea  of  equality.  It  is,  therefore,  a  ques- 
tion of  preserving  California  as  a  white  man's  country,  up- 
holding American  standards  and  civilization,  or  abandoning 
it  to  an  alien  people  capable,  in  this  fierce  competition,  of 
either  exterminating  the  whites  or  of  reducing  them  to  a 
hopelessly  lower  economic,  social  and  political  plane.  The  con- 
test would  be  a  human  machine  against  a  human  machine, 
without  any  consideration  for  the  spiritual,  intellectual  and 
political  betterment  of  humanity.  A  free  government  such  as 
ours  depends  upon  the  intelligence,  patriotism  and  prosperity 
of  the  people.  It  would  be  fatal  to  impoverish  and  destroy 
the  men  and  women  on  whom  we  depend. 

In  this  view,  we  have  to  eliminate  any  question  of  in- 
creased production,  or  pride  in  statistical  tables  of  great 
wealth.  They  are  of  minor  importance.  It  is  the  proper  dis- 
tribution of  wealth  among  the  people  that  concerns  us  most. 
Amicable  relations  with  a  foreign  government  must  yield  to 
a  proper  regard  for  the  welfare  of  our  own  people.  The 
alien  land  act  might  well  be  described  as  an  act  of  self-preser- 
vation. 


NEGATIVE  DISCUSSION 

World's  Work.  14:9373-6.     September,  1907 

Mongolian  as   a  Workingman.       Woods   Hutchinson 

Having  lived  along  the  Pacific  Coast  from  Vancouver  Is- 
land-to Los  Angeles  for  nearly  seven  years,  I  have  had  time 
enough  to  observe  the  situation  without  remaining  in  any  one 
place  long  enough  to  absorb  local  prejudices.  Being  neither 
a  day-laborer  nor  an  employer  of  labor,  my  point  of  view  has 
not  been  obscured  by  personal  interest. 

First  of  all,  no  class  on  the  Pacific  Coast  desires  an  un- 
limited, or  even  a  very  large,  immigration  of  Mongolians, 
whether  coolies  or  merchants,  Chinese,  Japanese,  or  Koreans. 
The  people  want  to  keep  this  Coast  a  white  man's  country. 
Many  of  us  are  keenly  alive  to  the  complications  arising  from  the 
permanent  presence  of  an  inferior  race  with  which  it  is  not  suit- 
able to  intermarry.  Yet  in  these  seven  years  I  have  found  the 
consensus  of  intelligent  opinion  in  the  community — farmers,  mer- 
chants, professional  men,  lumbermen,  housewives,  in  fact  all  grades 
and  conditions  of  people  except  the  labor  unions,  the  "hoodlums," 
and  the  politicians  and  editors  who  truckle  to  such  classes — 
strongly  in  favor  of  a  limited  Mongolian  immigration. 

They  believe  that  the  Chinese  and  the  Japanese — up  to,  say, 
a  quarter  or  a  half  a  million — would  be  of  enormous  com- 
mercial value  to  the  Coast  and  of  little  or  no  social  or  moral 
disadvantage.  They  do  not  say  much  about  it  in  public,  for 
intelligent  opinion  goes  about  in  fear  of  the  noisier  and  more 
prejudiced  expressions  and  of  the  newspapers  which  echo  them. 
Our  politicians  take  their  cue  from  the  shoutings  of  the  mob 
and  misrepresent  us  on  this  question.  A  false  impression  has 
grown  up  in  the  East  with  regard  to  the  real  attitude  of  Oregon 
and  California  toward  the  Oriental  problem. 

The  considerations  that  lead  many  intelligent  people  to 
favor  Chinese  and  Japanese  immigration  ar§  these:  . 

First,  there  is  an  utter  absence  on  the  Coast  of  any  native- 
born  or  American  white  day-laboring  class  below  the  artisan 


296  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

or  skilled  mechanic.  I  have  never  yet  met  on  this  coast  an 
American  white  man  who  was  willing  to  regard  himself  as 
a  day-laborer  by  profession,  who  expected  to  pass  his  life 
in  that  capacity.  American  laborers  are  too  intelligent  and 
too  ambitious  for  that.  The  native-born  men  and  boys  who 
cultivate  our  ranches,  pick  our  fruit,  build  our  railroads,  and 
man  our  lumber  crews,  are  simply  "working  for  a  stake." 
As  soon  as  they  have  earned  one  or  two  hundred  dollars,  off 
they  go  to  the  mines,  the  fisheries,  the  timber  and  homestead 
claims,  to  set  up  for  themselves.  They  are  the  finest  labor 
on  earth,  as  long  as  you  can  hold  them,  but  the  moment  they 
have  "made  their  stake"  they  leave.  A  new  find  at  Bull- 
frog, Tonopah,  or  Rhyolite  will  empty  the  bunk-houses  in 
a  week. 

There  is  only  a  small  supply  of  Italians,  Poles,  Hungar- 
ians, and  Russians.  These  immigrants  come  by  way  of  New 
York  and  stop  off  along  the  whole  breadth  of  the  continent, 
so  the  handful  which  reaches  us  is  wholly  inadequate  for  our 
needs. 

Moreover,  we  prefer  the  Chinese  to  any  of  these  or  to 
the  Mexicans  with  their  dirt,  laziness,  and  stupidity.  The 
Chinaman  is  the  most  industrious  worker  that  walks  the 
earth  in  human  form.  He  doesn't  seem  to  know  how  to  get 
tired.  All  you  need  to  do  is  to  show  him  what  he  has  to 
do,  and  set  him  at  it;  he  will  stay  by  it  as  long  as  he  can 
see  to  work,  seven  days  out  of  the  week.  There  is  some- 
thing positively  uncanny  about  his  affection  for  work.  No 
class  of  white  men  will  work  with  the  unremitting  persis- 
tency of  the  Chinese.  The  Japanese  is^nore_human.  He  will 
quiet  of  his  own  accord  occasionally,  but  he  also  is  a  tireless, 
cheerful  worker. 

Apart  from  these  merely  commercial  or  mechanical  vir- 
tues, both  Japanese  and  Chinese  have  an  excellent  personal 
reputation  all  up  and  down  the  Coast.  Not  only  are  they 
honest  and  industrious,  but  they  are  kindly,  cheerful,  grateful 
for  good  treatment,  devoted  to  the  children  of  the  families 
in  which  they  work,  faithful  to  their  friends,  kind  to  their 
families,  to  one  another,  and  to  everyone  in  trouble.  They 
give  liberally,  not  only  to  their  own  poor,  but  to  Christian 
missions  and  charities.  "As  fat  as  a  Chinaman's  horse"  has 
passed  into  a  proverb.  The  dislike  of  them  is  racial  and  class, 
not  personal. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  297 

The  terrors  of  the  "Yellow  Peril"  exist  chiefly  in  the 
imaginations  of  walking  delegates  and  Congressmen.  "Chinese 
cheap  labor"  has  not  to  date  "ruined"  any  white  man,  for  the  v, 
simple  reason  that  it  does  not  compete  with  him.  It  fills  a  / 
gap  which  no  white  man  or  woman  on  the  Pacific  Coast  is 
willing  to  fill,  except  temporarily  under  stress  of  circum- 
stance. It  is  not  a  question  of  wages.  The  fact  of  the  mat- 
ter is  that  we  cannot  get,  at  any  price,  more  than  half  the 
white  labor  that  we  need  here  now  to  build  and  keep  in  re- 
pair our  railroads,  man  our  mines,  work  our  farms,  pick  our 
fruit,  our  hops,  our  nuts,  grow  our  vegetables,  and  do  our 
household  work.  A  good  general  servant  in  California  for 
instance,  commands  from  $30  to  $40  a  month,  -wrtfr~thlf~wash- 
ing  "put  out,"  and  few  are  to  be  had  at  that  price. 

To  speak  of  "Chinese  cheap  labor"  provokes  a  smile  on  the 
Coast,  for  the  Chinese  laborer  gets  at  least  as  high  a  wage  as 
the  white  man  of  the  same  class,  and  usually  a  little  higher 
on  account  of  his  superior  industry,  honesty,  and  trustworthi- 
ness. Chinese  workingmen  earn  from  $2  to  $4  a  day  in  the 
orchards,  the  mines,  and  the  canneries,  while  a  fair  Chinese 
servant  gets  $40  a  month  and  board,  and  a  good  cook  or  steward 
receives  from  $50  to  $100.  One  such  cook,  with  a  helper,  will 
provide  meals  in  a  lumber  or  mining  camp  for  forty  or  fifty 
men. 

Nor  does  the  great  mass  of  Japanese  interfere  with  any  class 
of    white    labor.     Certain    of   them   are    more    enterprising   and 
versatile,  however,  and  are  beginning  to  enter  the  lower  grades 
of    skilled    manual    labor.     Hence    their    unpopularity    with    the 
labor  unions,  and  the  recent  agitation  for  their  exclusion.    The     . 
chief  trouble  with  the  Japanese  is  that  he  is  a  little  too  much  A 
like  ourselves. 

The  Oriental  influence  upon  our  social  or  political  life  need 
give  little  concern,  since  both  races  come  here  with  the  fixed 
intention  of  returning  to  the  Orient — the  Chinese  after  he  has 
made  some  money,  the  Japanese  after  he  has  learned  some  par- 
ticular thing.  They  show  not  the  slightest  desire  to  intermarry 
with  the  white  race,  even  if  this  were  permitted ;  they  take  no 
more  interest  in  politics  or  in  any  form  of  social  life  outside 
of  their  own  colonies  and  tongs  or  guilds  than  so  many  horses. 

As  to  the  nameless  Oriental  vices  and  diseases  about  which 
we  hear  so  much,  I  think  I  may  be  allowed  to  speak  with  some 
positiveness.  For  two  years  I  was  state  health  officer  of  Ore- 


298  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

gon,  and  one  of  my  first  duties  was  a  thorough  investigation 
of  the  Chinatowns  of  San  Francisco  and  Portland  with  ref- 
erence to  the  bubonic  plague,  which  was  at  that  time  smolder- 
ing in  the  former  city.  If  there  was  anything  in  these  colonies 
that  I  did  not  see,  it  was  my  own  fault,  as  I  was  always  cour- 
teously accompanied  by  Federal,  state  or  municipal  officers. 
When  in  search  of  a  suspected  case  of  plague,  every  door 
which  was  not  promptly  opened  on  demand  was  smashed  in 
with  an  axe.  In  addition,  I  have  been  for  years  keenly  interested 
both  in  tropical  diseases  and  in  the  forms  assumed  by  Euro- 
pean diseases  in  Oriental  races. 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  neither  the  Chinese  nor 
the  Japanese  has  a  single  disease  or  vice  which  does  not  exist 
among  white  men,  except  certain  geographical  infections  like 
beri-beri,  nor  is  he  subject  to  them  in  any  higher  degree  than 
white  men  of  his  grade  of  intelligence.  Leprosy,  for  instance, 
is  no  more  prevalent  among  them  than  it  was  in  Norway  and 
Sweden  fifty  years  ago,  and  in  Scotland  and  Ireland  150  years 
ago.  More  lepers  have  actually  come  into  the  United  States 
from  northern  Europe  than  from  all  Asia,  and  since  the  United 
States  Marine  Hospital  Service  began  inspecting  intending  immi- 
grants in  Chinese  ports,  scarcely  a  single  case  has  entered  by  any 
pacific  port.  Whatever  danger  threatened  from  this  disease  is 
already  abolished. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  any  further  danger  from  the  bubonic 
plague.  While  both  Chinese  and  Japanese  suffer  severely  from 
tuberculosis,  this  is  little  more  prevalent  among  them  than 
among  Irish,  Scandinavians,  Italians,  Russians,  or  Hungarians, 
and  can  with  equal  readiness  be  absolutely  excluded  by  compe- 
tent sanitary  inspection  and  quarantine  regulations.  Diseases 
peculiar  to  men  are  neither  more  frequent  nor  more  virulent 
among  them  than  among  the  white  men  of  the  same  class.  Most 
cases  have  been  contracted  since  coming  to  this  country. 

The  sanitary  (or,  more  properly,  insanitary)  conditions  of 
Chinatowns  are  only  such  as  result  from  overcrowding.  The 
chief  difficulty  in  the  way  of  their  complete  removal  is  the 
shameful  opposition  of  the  white  owners  of  the  property,  many 
of  them  pillars  of  society  and  of  the  church,  whose  enormous 
revenues  from  the  rookeries  are  in  direct  ratio  to  the  number 
of  tenants  they  can  crowd  into  them.  Money  greed  and  the 
dishonesty  of  politicians  and  police  who  blackmail  its  vices  and 


ON  IMMIGRATION  299 

necessities    are    the   sole    hindrance    to   the    cleansing    of    these 
"Oriental  plague-spots." 

The    Chinese    contribute    to    the    situation    simply    by    their 
patient    submission    to    overcrowding   and    their    willingness    to 
pay  rent  for  space  in  which  a  white  man  would  suffocate.    Con- 
trary to  popular  impression,  they  are  not  dirty  in  their  personal 
habits.     I  have  physically  examined  scores  of  Chinese  and  Jap- 
anese,  and   they    strip    cleaner    than   any   European   immigrantsT 
of  their  class.     Their  bedrooms  are  neatly  kept  and  their  kitchens   j 
are  cleaner  than  those  of  the  average  restaurant.     In  fact,  they   / 
must  be  clean,  as  a  matter  of  stern  survival  necessity.     I  have  / 
frequently  seen  inside  rooms  fifteen  feet  square,  without  win- 
dows or  airshafts,  their  only  opening  being  a  door  into  a  dark,  - 
narrow  passage,  in   which  cooked,  ate,  and  slept  ten  to  twelve 
Chinese;  and  yet  there  was  little  or  no  offensive  odor. 

Chinese  and  Japanese  servants  are  models  of  neatness  and    j 
cleanliness   and  usually   report   for   duty  in   white   duck  jackets. 
They  keep   both   kitchens   and    bedrooms    far   cleaner  than   the 
average  foreign-born  hired  girl. 

Any  Chinatown  can  be  kept  in  good  sanitary  condition, 
merely  by  a  little  energetic  and  honest  health-policing  and  by  en- 
forcing the  building  and  lodging-house  laws  already  in  existence. 
Make  the  owners  of  the  property  pay  a  special  license-tax  out 
of  their  enormous  rentals,  use  this  to  provide  a  special  sanitary 
inspector,  and  the  thing  is  done.  Chinese  stand  in  holy  fear 
of  the  law  and  its  officers,  and  one  or  two  lessons  would  be 
enough.  They  take  very  kindly  to  overcrowding;  if  permitted 
they  will  take  a  room  or  floor,  "split"  it  into  two  stories,  if 
the  ceilings  are  more  than  twelve  feet  high,  by  putting  in  an 
extra  floor  six  feet  above  the  original  one.  If  the  ceiling  is 
lower,  they  build  tiers  of  bunks  clear  to  the  top,  with  per- 
haps a  gallery  four  feet  below  it.  These  quarters  are  then 
sublet  to  a  dozen  or  a  score  of  sub-tenants.  But  a  few  arrests 
and  a  tearing  out  of  these  "improvements"  would  soon  stop 
all  this.  They  do  not  love  overcrowding  and  dirt  for  their 
own  sake,  but  merely  put  up  with  them  to  save  money;  the 
rooms  of  the  more  intelligent  and  wealthy  Chinese  are  often 
light,  airy,  and  spotlessly  clean. 

Many  disgusting  things  are  to  be  seen  in  our  Chinatowns, 
but  nothing  that  cannot  be  matched  in  any  city  slum  or  "tender- 
loin." The  worst  "joints"  are  those  which  are  run  for  the 


360  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

benefit  of  white  visitors  and  white  patrons.  We  pay  too  high 
a  compliment  to  Chinese  intelligence  when  we  imagine  that  he 
can  devise  anything  more  ingenious  or  complicated  in  the  way 
of  vice  than  we.  He  gambles,  of  course,  but  fan-tan  is  his  only 
substitute  for  the  race-course  and  Wall  Street.  In  the  absence, 
of  family  life,  he  invents  all  sorts  of  ingenious  deviltry — just  like 
New  York  or  London  clubmen.  He  smokes  a  good  deal  of 
opium  and  probably  shortens  his  life  considerably  by  so  doing, 
but  for  some  strange  racial  reason  it  seldom  makes  the  abject 
physical  and  moral  wreck  of  him  that  morphine  does  of  the 
white  man.  So  far  as  I  can  learn,  only  about  50  per  cent,  of 
the  Chinese  and  scarcely  20  per  cent,  of  the  Japanese  "hit  the 
pipe"  at  all.  Of  these  probably  not  more  than  a  third  do  so 
to  excess,  and  even  they  "carry  it"  surprisingly  well.  Unless 
thoroughly  familiar  with  the  symptoms,  you  might  see  a  Chi- 
nese every  day  and  never  suspect  that  he  was  an  opium  habitue. 
Unlike  Mark  Twain's  prospector  who  "never  let  his  business 
interfere  with  his  drinking,"  the  Chinese  never  lets  his  pipe 
interfere  with  his  work — until  the  last  few  weeks,  or  months 
before  the  end.  He  smokes  only  out  of  business  hours,  or  at 
the  end  of  his  week  or  month,  when  he  can  get  a  day  or  two 
off.  It  is  not  a  handsome  nor  attractive  vice,  and  the  only  whites 
who  are  led  to  indulge  in  it  are  of  the  lowest  class. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  great  majority  of  Orientals  either 
abstain  from  alcohol  or  take  it  in  strict  moderation.  There 
are  a  few  saloons  in  each  Chinatown  and  they  can  generally 
be  picked  out  by  the  group  of  white  men  hanging  about  the  door. 
Of  late,  the  Japanese  is  showing  a  little  tendency  to  take  kindly 
to  whiskey  as  a  substitute  for  his  native  sake  (rice  brandy). 
Occasionally  he  will  even  take  enough  to  become  boisterous  and 
come  in  contact  with  the  police,  which  occasions  much  shaking 
of  heads  and  wagging  of  beards  over  "steins." 

Managers  of  canneries  which  have  to  handle  promptly  and 
|  regularly  every  day  of  the  season  large  amounts  of  valuable 
raw  material  or  have  it  spoil  on  their  hands,  "will  tell  you  frankly 
that  they  prefer  Chinese  or  Japanese  to  white  labor,  because 
they  never  get  drunk  or  go  on  sprees  at  critical  periods  and 
require  no  holidays  or  days  off. 

In  fine,  while  the  Chinese  and  the  Japanese  have  their  defects, 
and  the  Coast  has  no  desire  to  "gush"  over  them  or  urge  them 
to  become  citizens,  we  regard  them  as  a  valuable  commercial  fac- 


ON  IMMIGRATION  361 

tor,   and  as  a  race  as    free   from  vice  or  other   drawbacks   as 
can  reasonably  be  expected  of  mortals. 


Literary  Digest.    47:67+.    July  12,  1913 

California's  Hustling  Japanese 

You  can  not  hire  white  men  in  California  to  wade  through 
the  tule  dust  in  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  deltas  and 
thin  onions,  dig  potatoes  and  onions,  harvest  beans,  and  cut 
asparagus,  with  a  temperature  of  about  120  degrees  in  the  shade 
or  130  in  the  sun.  Tule  dust  is  an  acrid  powder  that  is  about 
as  pleasant  to  inhale  as  sulfur  fumes.  To  pull  your  feet  through 
it  is  like  dragging  leaden  weights. 

The  white  man  will  drive  a  sulky  plow  or  cultivator  where 
it  is  possible  to  drive  them,  he  will  man  the  gasoline  tractors  and 
other  big  machinery,  but  he  will  not  toil  on  foot  under  that 
scorching  sun  between  the  rows  of  growing  things  that  must 
be  cultivated  and  dug.  Nor  will  he  pick  raisins  and  grapes 
and  berries  on  the  big  farms  that  lie  outside  the  delta.  Nor 
yet  will  he  band  with  his  kind  in  nomadic  groups  and  be  avail- 
able here,  there,  and  everywhere  for  the  harvesting. 

The  white  man  simply  refused  to  fill  this  economic  vacuum. 
The  Oriental  yielded  to  the  magnetic  influence  and  was  drawn 
into  it.  Now  that  he  is  in  and  is  regarded  by  high  and  low 
authorities  as  undesirable,  the  vexing  problem  is — how  to  get 
him  out. 

Here  is  the  way  the  situation  sizes  up  to  J.  P.  Irish,  Jr.,  of  the 
Middle  River  Experiment  Farm,  who  is  also  on  the  staff  of 
Secretary  Houston,  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agri- 
culture : 

Just  so  long  as  truck  farming  is  carried  on  in  California 
on  a  gigantic  scale,  and  just  so  long  as  grapes  and  fruits  are 
grown  on  the  one-crop  basis,  we  shall  be  absolutely  dependent 
upon  Oriental  labor.  If  we  were  to  drive  every  Jap,  China- 
man, and  Hindu  out  of  the  State  the  beet-sugar  industry  would 
instantly  cease.  So  would  a  great  section  of  all  our  agriculture 
stop  with  a  bang.  We  have  developed  our  agriculture  in  recent 
years  on  the  basis  of  a  big  nomadic  population  of  labor  which 
exists  by  means  of  short-term  jobs.  We  are  farming  on  a 
basis  of  an  immediately  available  supply  of  nomadic  labor.  The 


302  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

nomadic  white  labor  that  can  be  recruited  is  utterly  worthless; 
wherefore  we  are  prest  by  necessity  to  depend  upon  the  Japa- 
nese. 

We  started  out  with  the  Chinese,  and  he  was  the  best  type  of 
laborer  we  ever  had.  His  habits  were  his  own ;  his  vices  were 
his  own.  He  minded  his  own  business.  But  a  howl  was  raised 
against  him  and  the  fear  grew  that  the  country  would  be 
swamped  by  pigtails.  Hence  the  Exclusion  Act. 

We  shut  the  Chinese  out,  which  created  the  opportunity  for 
the  Japanese  invasion.  The  Jap  rushed  in  to  fill  the  demand. 
Where  the  Chinaman  was  complacent  and  passive  the  Jap  has 
become  stubborn  and  recalcitrant.  He  demanded  and  got  a  pass- 
port system.  He  resisted  the  pressure  against  him  every  inch 
of  the  way.  But  with  all  his  stubbornness  and  his  persistence 
in  coming  in,  there  were  not  enough  of  him.  Wherefore  the 
Hindu,  who  from  the  point  of  efficiency  is  less  desirable  than 
either  the  Chinaman  or  the  Jap.  The  Hindu  came  not  because 
he  could  furnish  as  good  labor  as  the  Chinaman  or  Japanese, 
but  simply  because  he  was  nomadic. 

Until  the  landholding  in  California  and  other  Pacific  coast 
states  similarly  situated  reduce  themselves  to  a  point  where  a 
man  and  his  family  can  handle  a  sub-division,  we  are  going  to 
be  ridden  and  bothered  and  vexed  by  these  nomadic  hordes  from 
the  Orient.  In  my  opinion  it  would  have  been  a  great  deal 
better  if  California  had  kept  on  taking  the  Chinamen  until  the 
density  of  population  automatically  excluded  them. 

People  here  are  counting  now  on  throwing  open  our  door  to 
Southern  Europe.  They  expect  an  inpouring  of  field  laborers. 
But  such  has  not  been  the  history  of  immigration  from  that 
section.  The  masses  attach  themselves  to  the  cities  and  only 
a  scattered  few  seek  the  country.  This  is  not  so  true  of  the 
Portuguese  as  of  the  other  peoples  of  Southern  Europe,  but  the 
Portuguese  are  comparatively  limited  in  number. 

The  great  cry  in  California  has  been  that  the  Japanese  are 
taking  the  white  men's  jobs.  But  that  has  been  a  false  cry 
so  far  as  the  actual  job  is  concerned.  In  ninety-nine  cases 
out  of  a  hundred  the  white  man  would  not  have  the  Oriental's 
job  as  a  gift,  with  a  bonus  thrown  in  for  extra  inducement. 
Nor  will  the  American  negro  take  it.  Several  years  ago  a  big 
planter  of  Fresno  County  brought  a  trainload  of  colored  men  to 
California  to  work  in  his  fields.  They  remained  on  the  job  less 


ON  IMMIGRATION  303 

than  a  week,  and  inside  of  a  fortnight,  so  the  report  goes,  the 
entire  North  Carolina  shipment  was  shooting  craps  or  shining 
shoes  or  driving  ice-wagons  in  the  city  of  Fresno. 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy.    34:80-5.    September,  1909 

Moral    and    Social    Interests    Involved    in    Restricting    Oriental 
Immigration.    Thomas  L.  Eliot 

The  one  undeniable  fact  which  seems  to  be  emerging  is  that  a 
certain  growing  number  of  Orientals  is  to  be  on  our  shores,  partly 
floating,  and  partly  to  stay.  It  is  almost  equally  certain  that 
exclusion  is  frankly  impossible,  deportation  impracticable,  and  the 
lines  of  restriction  are  more  and  more  difficult  to  define.  Others 
will  discuss  what  may  and  ought  to  be  done  in  order  to  regulate 
the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  immigration.  No  doubt  careful 
legislation  is  necessary  both  east  and  west,  and  in  the  west, 
at  least,  labor  immigration  should  be  made  the  subject  of  more 
and  more  careful  treaties  and  comities  with  China  and  Japan.  But 
in  the  outcome,  there  will  be  an  accumulation  of  these  peoples, 
determined  to  be  here  by  economic  principles,  and  attaching 
themselves  to  the  soil  according  to  the  industrial  demands  of 
city  and  country  life.  To  the  present  writer  it  seems  a  fairly 
open  question  whether  the  ratio  of  Orientals  to  the  rest  of  the 
white  population  will  increase.  Except  for  limited  areas,  there 
are  with  us  on  this  coast  no  such  conditions  historically  and 
economically  as  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands — that  is  a  problem  to 
itself.  A  few  checks  and  balances  added  to  the  present  restric- 
tion laws  ought  to  suffice  for  the  maintenance  of  the  present 
ratio  on  the  basis  of  the  entire  coast.  At  the  same  time  the 
quality  of  the  immigration  might  be  advanced. 

The  real  problem  lies  with  the  hosts  rather  than  the  guests ; 
as  a  problem  of  resourcefulness,  adaptation  and  character.  Shall 
these  immigrants  be  antagonized,  solidified  into  a  caste,  driven 
in  upon  themselves,  compelled  by  our  very  treatment  of  them 
to  herd  vilely,  and  live  viciously,  or  shall  there  grow  up  among 
us  in  the  interest  of  moral  and  social  sanity  a  determination 
to  minimize  crass  race-prejudice,  to  dissipate  the  superstitions 
and  ignorances  of  both  whites  and  non-whites,  and  to  set  up 
assimilating  processes  as  far  as  possible  along  the  levels  of  indi- 
vidual merit  and  higher  efficiencies?  Shall  we  foster  the  very 


304  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

evil  we  dread,  or  shall  we  somehow  foster  the  germs  of  good 
will?  Shall  our  legislation  be  panicky  and  steady-by-jerks,  or 
shall  it  be  enlightened  and  progressive ;  shall  the  laws  be  admin- 
istered evasively,  or  evenly,  in  the  interest  of  peace  and  progress 
or  of  race  and  class  conflict? 

Even  admitting  that  Orientals  are  in  a  different  class,  what 
real  reason  is  there  for  prophesying  that  they  and  white  races 
cannot  live  upon  the  same  soil,  use  the  same  language,  and  in 
time  share  each  other's  mental  and  social  ideals?  The  process 
of  co-operation  will  not  be  difficult  when  once  the  alternative 
course  is  fairly  faced  and  its  consequences  fully  realized  in 
imagination.  For  the  alternatives  are  sanguinary  and  brutaliz- 
ing. It  takes  but  little  imagination  to  depict  the  future  if  the 
Chinese  and  Japanese  are  given  over  to  mobs,  and  are  refused 
justice;  if  they  are  traduced,  denied  education  and  civic  rights; 
if  they  are  treated  as  animals,  and  are  barred  all  humanities 
and  amenities.  For  such  abuses,  both  soon  and  late,  there  will 
be  a  fearful  reckoning.  A  complete  estrangement  from  us  o& 
eastern  nations,  with  all  that  it  involved  of  commercial  loss,  and 
the  possibility  of  war,  are  the  least  of  the  evils  thus  invoked. 
The  greater  evil  would  be  visited  upon  our  national  character, 
for  in  shutting  our  doors  and  persecuting  inoffensive  immigrants, 
we  would  have  surrendered  to  mob  power,  and  the  mob  yielded 
to  always  means  increasing  inhumanity  and  injustice  poured 
back  full  measure  into  the  bosoms  of  those  who  were  their  in- 
structors. All  the  more  would  such  retributions  heap  up  for 
us,  when  the  chief  charge  we  can  bring  upon  the  Oriental,  is 
that,  class  for  class,  he  is  cleaner,  thriftier,  more  industrious, 
and  docile,  better  bred,  better  trained,  and  better  mannered 
than  his  white  neighbor  in  the  world  of  labor  and  life. 

These  views  will  be  called  academic,  and  whoever  holds  them 
ought  frankly  to  admit  his  own  limitations.  The  exclusionist 
and  high  restrictionist  have  the  apparent  advantage  of  figures 
and  experience,  and  can  always  plead  "the  present  distress." 
They  seem  on  solid  ground  when  they  appeal  to  the  instincts  of 
race  purity  and  of  self-preservation.  They  alone,  perhaps,  realize 
the  hardships  and  strains  put  upon  communities  and  individuals, 
when  the  competition  of  labor  seems  to  drive  the  better  men 
to  the  wall.  But  it  must  be  repeated,  those  who  are  mixed  up 
with  a  problem  do  not  always  see  the  best  way  out.  They  can- 
not understand  the  need  of  sacrificing  a  nearer  benefit,  to  the 


ON  IMMIGRATION  305 

larger  principle.  Theirs  is  the  shortsighted  view  perhaps  in 
this  very  case,  which  once  drove  the  Moors  out  of  Spain  to 
the  lasting  injury  of  peninsular  civilization,  which  blinded  all 
Southern  France  in  the  silk  weavers'  riot  to  fight  the  newly- 
invented  loom;  and  which  united  the  squireocracy  and  agricul- 
tural laborers  of  England  against  the  first  steam  railroads. 
Economic  history  is  full  of  such  hardships  of  progress  and 
sufferings  of  adjustment.  The  peril  is  always  a  great  one,  that 
sympathy  with  those  who  suffer,  may  blind  rulers  and  peoples 
to  greater  coming  good  for  greater  numbers,  including  it  may 
be  even  the  present  sufferers.  In  the  very  nature  of  society, 
if  progressive,  there  is  always  a  fighting  line  where  the  unskilled 
labor  of  society  is  to  be  done,  and  another  fighting  line  where  the 
highest  leadership  is  to  be  achieved,  where  the  greatest  prin- 
ciples of  civilization  are  trying  to  win  out.  Over  this  conflict 
and  friction,  the  will  of  the  whole  people  as  expressed  in  good 
government,  in  wise  legislation,  in  impartial  enforcement  of  the 
laws,  in  enlightened  study  of  conditions  should  insure  civili- 
zation against  retrogressive  steps. 

The  problem  of  immigration,  especially  in  the  shape  in  which 
it  is  presented  to  Western  America,  should  be  placed  in  charge 
of  an  expert  governmental  commission  of  the  highest  class,  with 
ample  powers,  capable  of  patience  and  detachment  from  pre- 
judice, in  order  to  formulate  all  the  facts  and  propose  the 
practicable  solution  of  how  the  civilization  of  the  west  and  the 
east  may  meet,  and  how  they  may  mingle — since  mingle  on  some 
terms  they  must — with  advancing  good  will  and  the  mutual 
attainment  of  material,  moral  and  social  good. 

This  is  the  challenge  that  the  situation  presents  to  united 
America.  The  East  as  well  as  the  West  is  concerned  in  an- 
swering it  upon  the  highest  lines  of  national  and  international 
harmony.  When  we  ask  ourselves  what  grounds  of  encourage- 
ment there  are  to  hope  that  an  honorable  solution  will  be  reached, 
it  needs  but  to  rehearse  some  of  the  achievements,  over  equally 
stubborn  problems  lying  all  about  us,  and  to  measure  up  the 
new  pace  which  is  set  for  education,  for  enlightenment,  for 
solidarity  of  national  sentiment,  for  new  evaluations  of  human 
lives,  and  above  all  for  the  obligations  of  society  towards  its 
weaker  members. 


306  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

National  Education  Association.    1914:  35-40 

Responsibility  of  American  Educators  in  the  Solution  of  Amer- 
ica's Oriental  Problem.     Sidney  L.  Gtilick. 

The  attitude  which  the  United  States  takes  to  Japan  and 
China  in  this  and  the  next  few  decades  promises  to  be  epochal 
in  the  history  of  man.  And  the  responsibility  for  the  attain- 
ment of  the  right  attitude  depends  in  no  small  measure  on 
our  educators  and  our  institutions  of  learning.  The  general 
attitude  of  our  people  is  today  one  that  is  based  on  profound 
ignorance.  It  expresses  itself  in  disdain,  scorn,  misrepresen- 
tation. Asiatics  are  regarded  as  inferior  in  race,  degraded 
in  character,  and  unassimilable  in  nature.  We  allow  no  Asiatics 
to  become  citizens  of  America,  whatever  their  personal  quali- 
fication. This  refusal  of  rights  of  naturalization  is  made  the 
ground  of  differential  race  legislation  by  several  states.  Such 
legislation,  however,  is  regarded  by  Japanese  as  invidious  and 
humiliating,  contrary  to  the  treaties,  and  in  conflict  with  their 
national  dignity  and  self-respect. 

This  is  the  crux  of  the  so-called  Japanese  question.  This 
is  what  is  causing  the  Japanese  people  so  much  pain  and  indig- 
nation at  the  recent  anti-Asiatic  legislation  of  California.  Japan 
does  not  ask  for  an  open  door  for  labor  immigration.  She 
is  widely  misunderstood  at  this  point.  She  does  ask  for  a  square 
deal  on  the  basis  of  manhood  equality  with  other  races.  Her 
people  are  not  willing  to  be  regarded  or  treated  as  an  inferior 
race  or  as  intrinsically  undesirable.  When  China  awakes  to  the 
situation,  she  will  unquestionably  develop  the  same  feelings  and 
make  the  same  appeals  as  Japan  is  making  today. 

It  is  impossible,  however,  for  America  to  respond  to  this 
appeal  of  the  Asiatic  for  equality  of  treatment,  good  will,  and 
friendship  so  long  as  the  present  conception  of  the  Asiatic  and 
his  civilization  prevails  among  us.  To  admit  him  to  our  citi- 
zenship is  regarded  by  many  as  intolerable.  We  might  as  well 
admit  baboons  or  chimpanzees  some  are  openly  saying.  Good 
American  citizens,  and  even  Christians  who  believe  in  sending 
missionaries  to  Asiatics  in  their  own  land,  regard  them  with 
disdain  and  scorn,  holding  that  they  are  intrinsically  different 
from  us — so  different  that  it  is  impossible  for  them  ever  to 
enter  into  our  life,  understand  our  civilization,  or  share  with 


ON  IMMIGRATION  307 

us  in  this  great  American  experiment  in  democracy.     Such  indi- 
viduals are  fond  of  Kipling's  famous  ballad: 

Oh,   East  is  East  and  West   is  West 

And  never  the  twain  shall  meet 
Till    Earth   and    Sky   stand   presently 

At   God's   great   judgment   seat. 

That  is  to  say,  East  and  West  are  so  different  that,  entirely 
regardless  of  the  question  of  inferiority  or  superiority,  these 
two  great  sections  of  the  human  race  cannot  possibly  mix.  The 
effort  to  provide  for  their  mingling,  they  hold,  will  inevitably 
end  in  turmoil  and  finally  in  disaster.  They  forget,  however, 
that  Kipling  did  not  stop  with  the  lines  they  love  to  quote.  Tho 
he  well  recognized  the  differences  between  East  and  West,  he 
also  saw  deeper  and  beyond.  For  he  added  in  the  lines  imme- 
diately following: 


But     there    is    neither  J;^st    nor    West 

Border,  nor  breed,  nor  birth 
When  two  strong  men  stand  face  to  face, 
Tho  they  come  from  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

The  fact  is  that  the  unities  underlying  all  branches  of  the 
human  race  are  far  deeper  and  more  real  than  first  appear.  The 
differences  are  relatively  superficial. 

Now  one  of  the  outstanding  duties  of  our  educators  is  to 
study  these  pressing  problems  of  international  life  and  the  new 
relations  necessarily  arising  thru  man's  recent  mastery  of  nature 
and  the  relative  collapse  of  space.  We  need  to  know  the  facts. 
Our  entire  people  should  be  educated  on  these  matters.  We 
must  be  led  by  a  sane  and  kindly  attitude  toward  those  great 
civilizations  of  the  Orient  and  their  peoples,  not  by  ignorance 
and  race  prejudice. 

Our  popular  attitude  toward  Asiatics  today  is  based  on  ignor- 
ance of  the  peoples,  their  history,  and  their  attainments.  It  is 
based  on  a  tradition  that  has  come  down  from  the  past,  a  tradi- 
tion, however,  which  better  knowledge  does  not  justify.  Educa- 
tors should  lead  in  the  overthrow  of  these  race  misunderstand- 
ings and  prejudices  which  threaten  to  bring  enormous  and  dis- 
astrous consequences  to  both  the  East  and  the  West. 

The  popular  view  that  Asiatics  are  undesirable  because  of 
their  absolute  non-assimilability  is  based  on  assumptions  which 
modern  biology,  psychology,  and  sociology  as  well  as  actual  ex- 

20 


308  SELECTED   ARTICLES 

perience,  show  to  be  quite  erroneous.  Our  institutions  of  learn- 
ing should  promptly  set  to  work  instructing  our  people  on  these 
matters,  for  they  are  of  highest  international  importance.  The 
rank  and  file  of  our  people  should  no  longer  be  misled  by  be- 
lated conceptions  which,  tho  long  regarded  as  scientific,  are 
now  seen  to  be  baseless.  We  are  in  great  danger  lest  mediaeval 
views  of  race  nature  and  race  relations  shall  plunge  us  into 
serious  yet  needless  difficulties. 

Modern  education  has  overthrown,  to  a  large  degree,  the 
mediaeval  dogmas  of  theology,  rendering  thereby  an  inestimable 
service  to  religion.  There  is  crying  need  that  it  render  the 
same  service  to  our  international  life  by  overthrowing  similarly 
mediaeval  dogmatism  as  to  race  nature  and  race  relations. 

World's  Work.    15: 10041-4.    March,  1908 

Japanese  Immigration.     Viscount  S.  Aoki 

What  would  the  American  people  say  if  any  of  their  race 
should  be  prohibited  from  entering  Canada  or  Mexico  or  a  far- 
off  country? 

I  ask  this  question  at  the  beginning  of  this  article  because 
I  want  to  bring  home  to  those  who  read  the  natural  attitude 
which  every  Japanese  must  adopt  when  contemplating  the  agi- 
tation in  progress  in  certain  sections  of  the  United  States  for 
the  enactment  of  an  exclusion  law  against  his  countrymen.  You 
are  an  expanding  people.  Your  emigrants  are  entering  the 
Dominion  to  the  north  in  droves.  They  are  entering  and 
remaining  in  Mexico,  Cuba,  and  South  American  countries.  In 
those  countries,  especially  in  Canada,  many  of  them  have 
become  farmers.  They  are  trying  to  live  economically,  to  gain 
as  much  profit  as  they  can,  to  observe  the  law  and  to  become 
honest,  decent,  law-abiding  citizens.  They  are  succeeding,  and 
they  are  reflecting  credit  upon  their  native  land,  upon  their 
adopted  country,  and  upon  themselves. 

Now  take  the  situation  of  the  Japanese.  We,  too,  are  an 
expanding  people.  Our  population,  according  to  the  last  census, 
is  50,400,000.  Our  total  area,  including  Formosa  and  the  south- 
ern extremity  of  the  Liao  Tung  Peninsula,  upon  which  Port 
Arthur  is  situated,  is  176,386  square  miles.  The  population  of 
the  United  States  is  almost  90,000,000,  excluding  your  insular 


ON  IMMIGRATION  309 

possessions.  Your  area  is  3,755,6o8  square  miles.  The  density 
of  your  population  is  24  per  square  mile ;  ours  is  286. 

In  spite  of  the  relatively  small  number  of  persons  per  mile 
in  your  country,  thousands  depart  annually  for  other  lands. 
These  are  not  merely  professional  men,  merchants,  and  students, 
but  men  who  work  with  their  hands  and  who  go  in  the  hope 
of  bettering  their  condition.  Yet  in  the  United  States  you  have 
vast  areas  of  land  which  are  uncultivated ;  you  have  an  abounding 
prosperity;  your  per  capita  circulation  amounts  to  the  large  sum 
of  $32,  and  there  is  an  abundance  of  opportunity  for  those  will- 
ing to  work.  Compare  the  situation  with  what  it  is  in  my 
country.  The  amount  of  land  available  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses is  so  small  that  we  cannot  farm  on  a  large  scale  but  must 
confine  ourselves  to  gardening.  Instead  of  sweeping  plains  we 
have  hills  and  valleys.  In  our  northernmost  island  the  climate 
is  rigorous,  the  amount  of  snow-fall  being  much  greater  than  in 
the  United  States.  We  are  a  comparatively  poor  people.  Our 
per  capita  circulation  is  only  $8.  The  opportunities  afforded  to 
us  are  few  when  compared  with  yours. 

You  say :  There  is  Korea  and  Manchuria.  But  Korea  is  a 
very  mountainous  country  and  Manchuria  suffers  from  a  very 
severe  climate.  No  capital  can  be  found  in  either ;  and  industry, 
consequently,  is  at  a  standstill.  How  long  could  your  farmers 
exist  without  capital  ?  What  could  they  do  about  moving  their  crops 
to  market?  Without  capital,  what  portion  of  the  crops  would  be 
purchased  by  the  consumers,  and  would  not  the  portion  unsold 
remain  on  the  hands  of  the  producers  and  contribute  to  their 
ruin?  Apply  this  situation  to  Korea  and  Manchuria.  In  the 
present  condition  of  our  finances,  we  have  no  capital  to  invest 
in  either  of  those  countries.  Consequently,  there  are  no  indus- 
tries of  any  importance,  except  those  which  the  Koreans  have 
pursued  for  generations  and  which  suffice  for  their  simple  needs ; 
Japanese  who  settle  in  the  Hermit  Kingdom  cannot  gain  a  liveli- 
hood. We  are  not  an  agricultural  people  as  you  are.  We  have 
not  the  immense  amount  of  capital  that  you  have.  In  the  old 
days,  the  people  added  to  their  rice  fare  by  the  results  of  fishing 
and  hunting.  Now,  with  the  introduction  of  modern  industrial 
plants,  requiring  a  changed  diet  in  order  to  fit  the  hands  to 
perform  their  work,  meat  is  being  eaten.  Modern  sanitation 
has  lengthened  life.  There  is  no  decrease  in  the  birth-rate.  We 
recognize  that  pur  future  is  as  a  manufacturing  nation,  ancl 


310  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

our  people  are  laboring  industriously  in  our  mills  and  factories. 
Competition   naturally   has  become  keen. 

These  are  the  conditions  which  are  responsible  for  the  move- 
ment of  Japanese  to  the  Pacific  Islands  and  to  the  western 
hemisphere.  The  government  has  never  encouraged  emigration. 
It  was  begun  by  individuals  craving  a  better  opportunity.  The 
industry,  intelligence,  and  strength  of  the  Japanese  appealed  to 
their  employers,  and  the  latter,  including  Americans,  Hawaiians, 
and  others,  came  to  Japan  to  induce  immigration  to  their  re- 
spective countries.  Such  emigrants  were  without  protection  from 
brutality  and  hardships  inflicted  upon  them  by  their  masters. 
Unwilling  to  interfere  the  government  approved  the  organiza- 
tion of  emigration  companies.  These  companies  are  required  to 
watch  over  all  emigrants,  to  provide  them  with  funds  when  with- 
out money  or  work,  to  furnish  them  with  medical  attendance 
when  ill,  and  to  return  them  home  to  prevent  them  from  be- 
coming a  charge  upon  the  foreign  community  in  which  they 
have  settled. 

The  few  Japanese  who  emigrated  to  Hawaii  have  always 
enjoyed  the  most  satisfactory  relations  with  the  Hawaiian 
people.  They  made  excellent  laborers.  They  have  been  law- 
abiding.  Without  them,  the  Hawaiian  Islands  would  not  be  so 
prosperous  as  they  are.  In  Hawaii,  they  learned  of  the  oppor- 
tunities existing  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  They  came  to  Califor- 
nia, to  Oregon,  to  Washington.  Some  were  voluntary  emi- 
grants, others-  were  induced  by  your  railroads  and  other  indus- 
tries needing  labor.  Those  that  remained  in  San  Francisco  were 
herded  in  a  quarter  where  they  had  practically  no  opportunity 
to  learn  American  customs  or  to  appreciate  the  character  or 
value  of  American  ideals.  They  resembled  the  colonies  of  Amer- 
icans, Englishmen,  Germans,  French,  and  other  nationalities 
which  to-day  are  found  in  "settlements"  in  Shanghai,  Tien  Tsin, 
and  other  Chinese  ports,  and  which,  until  I  negotiated  the 
treaties  abolishing  extraterritoriality,  existed  in  my  own  country. 
When  Commodore  Perry  first  penetrated  feudal  Japan,  he  found 
an  obstinate  objection  to  the  admission  of  foreigners  to  Japanese 
soil.  The  masses  of  Japan  wanted  nothing  to  do  with  foreign- 
ers. They  were  unwilling  even  to  treat  with  them.  Eventually, 
as  a  great  concession,  foreigners  were  permitted  to  establish 
"settlements,"  and  were  vested  with  extraterritorial  rights.  This 
was  done,  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  foreigners,  but  to  relieve 


ON  IMMIGRATION  311 

the  Japanese  of  any  contact  whatever  with  them.  It  was  the 
adoption  in  Japan  of  the  old  Turkish  policy  of  using  the  for- 
eigners for  the  advantage  of  the  country  and  limiting  the  rela- 
tions of  the  people  with  them.  It  took  nearly  half  a  century  to 
convince  us  that  the  policy  was  wrong ;  that,  instead  of  gaining  by 
the  policy  of  extraterritoriality,  we  really  suffered  by  it,  and 
that  our  interests  required  the  distribution  of  foreigners  through 
our  territory  rather  than  their  segregation.  For  by  this  they 
constituted  a  grave  embarrassment  and  a  real  menace. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  Japanese  cannot  assimilate  with  men 
of  Caucasian  blood,  has  the  experiment  had  a  fair  trial?  It  is 
unnecessary  for  me  to  point  out  the  achievements  of  the  Japa- 
nese, which  have  given  them  recognized  equality  in  all  lands, 
including  America.  Those  men  are  welcomed  and,  of  course, 
there  is  no  suggestion  that  they  should  be  excluded.  I  am  refer- 
ring to  the  laboring  class.  They  are  frugal  and  industrious. 
They  make  law-abiding  citizens.  They  educate  their  children. 
They  become  acquainted  with  your  institutions.  They  want  to 
embrace  American  citizenship,  but  your  laws  do  not  permit 
their  naturalization. 

This  shows  then,  that  the  question  is  not  a  racial  one  pri- 
marily. It  is  economic,  and  from  it  have  grown  the  political 
and  racial  phases.  Now  let  us  see  what  remedy  exists  for  its 
removal. 

To  my  mind,  the  solution  lies  in  the  distribution  of  the 
Japanese.  Any  so-called  Japanese  quarter  should  be  abolished. 
The  men  and  women  residing  therein  should  be  encouraged 
to  live  wherever  they  desire.  The  Bible  says  that  every  laborer 
is  worthy  of  his  hire.  No  one  will  work  for  less  than  he  can 
get.  The  Japanese  certainly  will  demand  the  wages  of  his  white 
competitor  if  he  knows  what  those  wages  are  and  has  a  chance 
to  obtain  them.  Living  among  the  whites,  the  moral  pressure 
of  his  neighbors  will  cause  him  to  act  as  they  do.  In  other 
words,  he  will  be  assimilated,  and  with  his  assimilation  the 
economic  and  other  questions  will  disappear. 

Since  the  time  when  Perry  came  to  Japan  the  relations  of 
the  United  States  and  my  country  have  been  based  upon  senti- 
ment. The  immigration  question  is  the  first  of  any  importance 
to  arise  between  us.  We  have  identical  interests  in  the  Pacific 
Ocean  and  in  the  Far  East.  You  want  freedom  of  trade; 
so  do  we.  We  welcomed  you  to  the  Philippines.  We  have 


312  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

no  desire  whatever  for  them.  Indeed,  we  want  you  to  remain 
in  the  Far  East,  for,  with  your  power  and  prestige,  and  with 
your  unselfish  aims,  you  can  be  depended  upon  to  uphold  those 
principles  which  are  as  important  to  us  as  they  are  to  you.  The 
integrity  of  China  and  the  open  door  in  that  Empire  were  prin- 
ciples first  enunciated  by  your  Secretary  of  State.  As  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs,  I  accepted  those  principles,  and  as  heartily 
approve  them  to-day  as  I  did  in  1899.  If  the  LTnited  States 
were  to  withdraw  from  the  Far  East,  the  upholding  of  those 
principles  would  be  a  matter  of  great  difficulty.  As  we  have  no 
designs  upon  the  Philippines,  so  we  have  no  designs  upon  Hawaii 
or  your  other  Pacific  possessions.  You,  on  your  part,  we  are 
convinced,  entertain  no  intention  to  seek  Formosa  or  other 
islands  or  territory  belonging  to  us.  There  is  no  point  at  which 
our  boundaries  come  in  contact;  consequently,  there  is  no  cause 
for  friction  in  this  respect.  You  were  the  first  to  recognize  our 
preponderance  in  Korea,  an  act  of  friendship  which  no  intelli- 
gent Japanese  can  forget.  More  than  this,  you  gave  us  moral 
countenance  in  our  trying  time.  These  are  the  reasons  why, 
to  every  Japanese,  the  idea  of  even  strained  relations  with  the 
United  States  is  abhorrent;  why  we  want  and  have  earnestly 
endeavored  to  arrange  the  immigration  question  to  your  satis- 
faction and  to  ours.  That  one  question  is  insufficient  to  disturb 
a  close  friendship  of  nearly  sixty  years.  But,  to  prevent  it  from 
doing  so,  the  American  people  should  recognize  our  position  in 
the  matter.  They  should  understand  that  we,  too,  are  a  proud 
people.  They  should  appreciate  that  an  Exclusion  Act  would 
be  a  slap  in  the  face  which  no  first-class  power  could  permit  to 
pass  unnoticed.  I  say  this  in  a  spirit  of  the  greatest  friendliness. 
I  have  always  been  a  strong  admirer  of  American  energy  and 
of  the  American  institutions.  And  it  is  because  of  this  admira- 
tion and  of  the  affectionate  respect  I  feel  for  the  American 
people  that  I  speak  plainly,  believing  that  my  words  will  be 
interpreted  in  the  friendly  way  in  which  they  are  intended. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  313 

North  American  Review.  200:566-75.    October,  1914 

Our  Honor  and  Shame  with  Japan.    William  E.  Griffis. 

It  is  not  the  business  of  a  foreign  nation  making  a  treaty 
with  the  United  States  to  inquire  into  the  actual  workings  of 
federalism,  its  defects  or  advantages;  or  whether  our  national 
government  it  is  too  weak,  morally  or  physically,  to  enforce,  a 
treaty  obligation  within  a  certain  geographical  area.  No  ques- 
tion is  raised  as  to  whether  any  nation  or  government  has,  or 
has  not,  the  right  to  keep  out  of  her  borders  undesirable  per- 
sons ;  or  who  shall  or  shall  not  become  citizens.  It  is  no  matter 
whether  Japan  is  pleased  or  displeased  with  our  social  or  poli- 
tical system,  or  we  with  hers.  As  sovereign  parties  covenanting 
together,  according  to  the  laws  of  nations,  the  only  question  is 
that  of  good  faith.  To  violate  a  treaty  is  to  break  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land  and  trample  on  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which  reads,  in  Article  VI. : 

This  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which  shall  be 
made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made  or  which  shall  be  made, 
under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of 
the  land;  and  the  judges  in  every  state  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything 
in  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  any  state  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

In  that  august  document  no  provision  is  more  strongly  safe- 
guarded against  any  and  all  theories  of  federalism  and  state 
rights,  and  none  is  so  immune  from  alteration,  or  the  effects 
of  attempted  nullification,  or  secession,  by  states,  judges,  courts, 
legislators,  and  politicians. 

A  diligent  perusal  of  the  sectional  speeches  and  writings  of 
statesmen  so  called,  and  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Asiatic  Exclu- 
sion League,  fails  to  reveal  any  sound  reason  why  one  state 
should  nullify  a  national  obligation.  Such  perusal  has  shown, 
however,  that  gentlemen,  dependent  upon  votes  and  in  the  labor- 
unions  (many  members  of  which,  Huns,  Russians,  etc.,  have  more 
"Mongolian"  blood  in  their  veins  than  has  the  average  Japanese) 
may  be  blinded  by  race  hatred  and  colorphobia,  especially  when 
dominated  by  fears  rather  than  facts.  When  racial  antipathies 
rule,  reason  flies.  The  "history"  so  often  appealed  to  and  the 
ethnology  expounded  in  California  seem  to  be  of  a  peculiarly 
local  output.  On  this  "hem  of  the  handkerchief,"  between  the 
Rockies  and  the  Pacific,  it  is  prejudice,  animal  instinct,  and 


314  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

surmises,  not  reality,  that  control  the  situation.  The  student 
of  the  situation  feels  bound  to  challenge  the  truth  of  nine-tenths 
of  the  statements  and  the  validity  of  most  of  these  local  argu- 
ments. 

We  Americans  dragged  Japan  out  of  her  enjoyable  her- 
mitage. As  zealous  as  Macedonians  were  we  in  our  cry,  first  to 
the  Chinese,  to  "come  over  and  help  us."  We  wanted  the  Jap- 
anese badly  and  we  invited  them  here.  Alas,  they  have  turned 
out  to  be  so  unlike  the  Christians  we  get  from  the  most  othodox 
part  of  Christian  Europe !  These  "very  respectable  and  full- 
handed  farmers,"  as  George  Washington  would  have  called  them, 
do  not  patronize  our  liquor-saloons,  or  fill  our  almshouses  and 
prisons,  or  buy  our  guns  and  pistols  to  kill,  nor  imitate  our 
abominable  manners  and  vulgar  extravagance.  On  the  contrary 
they  are  so  wickedly  zealous  in  reclaiming  our  waste  land,  so 
offensively  industrious,  and  so  shamefully  eager  to  learn  our 
language,  read  newspapers,  patronize  libraries  and  life-insurance 
companies,  become  builders  and  supporters  of  Christian  churches 
(over  fifty  of  which  they  have  organized  on  the  Pacific  coast) 
that  we  are  on  the  brink  of  ruin  through  their  cheap  labor ! 
Verily,  with  fewer  than  seventy  thousand  Japanese  in  the  con- 
tinental United  States,  "the  hordes  of  Asia"  are  precipitating 
themselves  on  us  to  the  overwhelming  of  free  institutions ! 

Forum.     50:66-76.     July,  1913 

Japanese-American  Relations.     Edwin  Maxey 

Given  a  traditional  friendship  resting  on  the  recollection  of 
of  kindness  shown  and  an  admiration  for  achievements,  added 
to  a  community  of  interests  resting  on  mutually  advantageous 
trade  relations  due  to  a  difference  in  resources  and  emphasized 
by  the  fact  of  geographical  location,  it  would  be  most  unfortu- 
nate if  these  relations  were  to  be  disturbed  by  hostile  legisla- 
tion and  unfair  discrimination  by  a  state  legislature.  But  the 
recent  act  passed  by  the  California  legislature  and  signed  by 
the  governor  raises  substantially  the  same  question  as  that  raised 
six  years  ago  by  the  order  of  the  San  Francisco  school  board 
in  excluding  the  Japanese  children  from  the  public  schools  of 
San  Francisco.  Now  as  then  there  is  no  emergency  which  calls 
for  drastic  action  by  the  local  unit.  At  that  time  the  local  unit 


ON  IMMIGRATION  315 

attempted  a  discrimination  against  aliens  whose  rights  were 
protected  by  a  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  their  gov- 
ernment containing  a  "most  favored  nation"  clause.  That  the 
federal  government  had  a  right  to  negotiate  such  a  treaty  there 
is  not  now  and  has  not  for  a  century  been  any  doubt.  The 
treaty-making  power  is  by  the  constitution  conferred  upon  the 
federal  government,  without  limitation.  The  federal  government 
had  therefore  the  same  power  to  make  treaties  as  had  the  gov- 
ernment of  other  independent  states  at  that  time.  And  at  that 
time,  and  for  a  long  time  previously  other  independent  states  had 
been  making  treaties  containing  the  "most  favored  nation" 
clause.  This  power  has  never  been  taken  away  from  the  federal 
government  and  has  been  frequently  exercised  without  any  ques- 
tion as  to  the  legal  right  to  exercise  it,  when  considered  expe- 
dient to  do  so.  Nor  is  there  any  doubt  that  when  a  treaty  con- 
taining such  a  clause  is  made  it  becomes,  in  accordance  with  the 
constitution,  "the  supreme  law  of  the  land."  It  may  be  unwise 
for  the  federal  government  to  insert  such  a  provision  in  its 
treaties  but  of  this  the  federal  government  and  not  a  state 
legislature  is  to  be  the  judge. 

In  the  school  case  the  matter  was  finally  settled  not  by  the 
local  authorities  but  by  the  federal  government  to  whom  it 
should  have  been  referred  in  the  first  place.  The  intervention 
by  the  local  authorities  settled  nothing.  It  served  merely  to 
cause  useless  irritation  to  a  friendly  state,  to  embarrass  our 
own  government  and  to  show  that  the  question  was  one  to  be 
dealt  with  by  the  federal  government,  not  by  the  local  authori- 
ties. If  the  rights  of  California,  in  respect  to  matters  governed 
by  a  valid  treaty,  were  interfered  with  they  had  the  undoubted 
right  of  appealing  to  the  federal  government  for  protection, 
which,  if  merited,  would  no  doubt  have  been  accorded.  But  this 
method  was  far  too  tame  and  prosaic  for  Californians.  They 
chose  rather  to  make  what  political  capital  they  could  by  inde- 
pendent action  which  would  inevitably  cause  irritation  and  make 
the  question  more  difficult  of  handling;  and  then,  having  secured 
what  advertising  they  could  get  out  of  it,  they  turned  the  ques- 
tion over  to  the  federal  government  for  adjustment. 

One  would  suppose  that  the  above  experience  would  have 
taught  the  Californians  something.  But  it  did  not.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  session  of  the  legislature  a  whole  crop  of  bills, 
thirty-four  in  number,  was  introduced  for  the  purpose  of  gain- 


316  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

ing  immortal  fame  and  votes  for  their  authors,  by  insulting  the 
citizens  of  a  friendly  state.  One  of  these  was  a  bill  to  increase 
the  license  to  Japanese  from  ten  dollars  to  one  hundred  dollars. 
Another  was  to  place  a  special  poll  tax  on  Japanese,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  the  treaty  of  1911  between  the  United 
States  and  Japan  contains  the  following  provision :  "They  shall 
not  be  compelled  under  any  pretext  whatever  to  pay  any  charges 
or  taxes  other  or  higher  than  those  that  are  or  may  be  paid 
by  native  citizens  or  subjects."  Another  was  a  bill  to  prevent 
Japanese  from  owning  power  engines,  the  purpose  of  this  being 
to  drive  them  out  of  the  steam  laundry  business.  If  such  legis- 
lation is  valid,  then  any  state'  can  make  it  impossible  for  aliens 
to  make  a  living  within  it,  regardless  of  "most  favored  nation" 
clauses  in  our  treaties  with  governments  of  said  aliens. 

In  matters  affecting  foreign  relations,  if  there  is  doubt  as 
to  the  right  of  the  local  political  unit  to  act,  such  authority  owes 
it  to  the  federal  government  to  proceed  slowly,  rather,  than  has- 
ten to  act  lest  its  excuse  for  action  should  be  removed  by  a 
friendly  and  diplomatic  adjustment  of  the  question  by  the  branch 
of  the  government  having  charge  of  foreign  relations.  True, 
the  act  of  the  legislature  may  be  tested  in  the  federal  courts 
and,  if  in  violation  of  the  treaty,  its  enforcement  may  be  en- 
joined. This  would  arrest  the  mischief  at  that  point,  but  a 
part  of  it  would  have  been  completed.  The  irritation  would  al- 
ready have  been  caused ;  so  that  while  the  state  would  have 
derived  no  benefit,  needless  embarrassment  and  annoyance  to 
the  federal  government  would  have  resulted.  It  is  not  clear  to 
the  lay  mind  why  a  state  should  display  such  over-anxiety  to 
place  itself  in  such  position.  If,  after  diplomatic  means  have  failed, 
it  should  have  recourse  to  this  as  a  last  resort,  its  act  could  be 
justified,  provided  there  was  a  reasonable  hope  of  accomplishing 
some  good  by  it.  By  virtue  of  its  position  as  a  state  in  the 
Union,  California,  in  common  with  every  other  state  in  the 
Union,  is  under  some  obligations  to  the  federal  government. 
And  among  these  obligations  one  is  to  refrain  from  making 
it  unnecessarily  difficult  for  the  federal  government  to  conduct 
its  foreign  relations,  particularly  where  there  is  doubt  as  to  the 
legality  of  action  contemplated  by  the  state. 

The  true  explanation  of  this  epidemic  of  anti-Japanese  legis- 
lation in  California  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  real  fear  that  the 
Japanese  will  monopolize  the  agricultural  lands  of  California  or 


ON  IMMIGRATION  31? 

that  the  ownership  of  a  part  of  them  by  Japanese  will  depreciate 
the  -value  of  adjoining  lands,  for  it  does  not,  as  would  be  the 
case  if  they  were  slovenly  farmers.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the 
Japanese  increase  the  productiveness  of  lands  owned  by  them, 
which  tends  to  increase  the  value  of  adjoining  lands.  Neither 
are  the  Japanese  laborers  what  can  be  styled  cheap  laborers. 
The  Commissioner  of  Labor  for  California,  Mr.  Mackenzie,  in 
his  report  for  1911  admits  that  the  immigration  of  more  Japanese 
would  be  a  benefit  to  the  state.  It  may  as  well  be  admitted 
frankly  that  the  real  explanation  of  the  present  outburst  of  anti- 
Japanese  legislation  is  to  be  found  in  race  prejudice.  That  this 
prejudice  has  not  a  sufficient  reason  upon  which  to  rest  matters 
not.  )  Prejudices  do  not  rest  upon  reason,  they  rest  -upon  pas- 
sion. I  It  you  ask  one  inoculated  with  the  virus  of  race  prejudice 
for  an  explanation  of  his  action  you  are  met  with  the  statement 
that  it  is  natural.  This  I  deny.  If  it  were  natural  we  should  find 
it  in  children  from  one  to  ten  years  old,  as  children  at  that  age 
are  far  more  natural  than  older  persons.  Children  do  not  draw 
the  color  line.  They  play  as  readily  with  children  of  another 
race  as  with  those  of  their  own.  It  is  only  after  their  conduct 
is  governed  by  the  conventionalities  of  society  that  they  draw 
the  color  line.  Race  prejudice  is  a  form  of  bigotry  much  less 
defensible  or  rational  than  that  which  afflicted  the  Pharisee, 
for  the  latter  based  his  claim  to  superiority  upon  acts,  not  upon 
the  accident  of  birth  or  the  color  of  his  ancestors.  A  due 
respect  for  the  rights  and  feelings  of  others  and  usefulness  in 
promoting  a  larger  and  more  perfect  life  among  those  influenced 
by  our  thoughts  and  acts,  rather  than  color  or  pedigree,  con- 
stitute the  only  valid  claim  to  superiority  among  men.  Race 
prejudice  is  therefore  too  dim  and  fitful  a  light  to  guide 
the  course  of  states  in  their  relations  with  each  other. 

Not  to  be  given  free  rein  in  dealing  with  the  Japanese  may 
be  irksome  to  California.  The  presence  of  Japanese  among 
them  may  be  disagreeable,  may  be  so  disagreeable  that  their 
impulse  would  be  to  proceed  at  once  to  a  general  deportation. 
It  was  also  disagreeable  for  South  Carolina  to  pay  tariff  duties 
in  1832.  But  while  a  state  continues  to  be  a  member  of  the 
Union  it  may  as  well  expect  to  bear  the  burdens  as  well  as  reap 
the  advantages  of  that  relation.  By  far  the  major  part  of  the 
sympathy  which  California  now  receives  comes  from  a  section 
having  an  exalted  notion  of  states'  rights  and  what  in  the  Ian- 


3i8  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

guage  of  art  would  be  called  an  over-emphasis  of  the  importance 
of  the  color  scheme. 

Equally  uncalled-for  and  equally  unwise  with  the  outburst 
of  anti-Japanese  feeling  in  California  are  the  intemperate  pre- 
dictions of  war  with  Japan. 

War  between  the  United  States  and  Japan  is  unnecessary 
and  unlikely.  The  surest  guarantee  against  it  is  the  good  sense 
of  the  two  states.  Neither  wants  war  and  neither  can  afford 
it.  Notwithstanding  sporadic  outbursts  on  both  sides,  each  still 
has  confidence  in  the  other,  which  makes  it  easy  to  adjust  differ- 
ences. It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  lesson  taught  by  the  present 
strain  on  international  friendships  will  not  be  lost  and  that 
it  will  lead  to  a  readjustment  of  powers  between  our  state  and 
federal  governments  which  will  prevent  a  recurrence  of  such 
unfortunate  and  awkward  situations. 


Survey.   31 :  720-2.   March,  7,  1914 
Problem  of  Oriental  Immigration.     Sidney  L.  Gulick. 

The  new  American  Oriental  policy  must  hold  as  its  major 
premise  the  principles  announced  by  President  Wilson  in  that 
notable  address  at  Mobile.  He  was  speaking,  it  is  true,  with  the 
South  American  nations  in  view,  but  the  principles  he  announced 
apply  equally  to  the  nations  of  the  Orient.  As  reported,  he  said : 

We  must  prove  ourselves  their  friends  and  champions  upon  terms  of 
equality  and  honor.  You  cannot  be  friends  upon  any  other  terms  than 
upon  the  terms  of  equality. 

You  cannot  be  friends  at  all  except  upon  the  terms  of  honor;  and 
we  must  show  ourselves  friends  by  comprehending  their  interests, 
whether  is  squares  with  out  interests  or  not. 

Upon  such  principles  consistently  applied,  would  I  found 
America's  new  Oriental  policy. 

America  should  treat  the  Oriental  on  a  basis  of  complete 
equality  with  the  citizens  of  other  races,  granting  to  them  as 
to  the  most  favored  nation,  treatment  even  as  we  give  it  to 
others  and  demand  it  for  ourselves. 

The  policy  needed  is  one  that  shall  conserve  all  the  perma- 
nent interests  of  California  and  of  the  entire  United  States,  shall 
do  so  in  harmony  with  the  dignity  of  the  peoples  of  the  Orient, 
and  shall  provide  likewise  for  their  permanent  welfare. 


ON  IMMIGRATION  319 

A  new  general  immigration  law  is  needed  which  shall  apply 
impartially  to  all  races.  We  must  abandon  all  differential  Asiatic 
treatment,  even  as  regards  immigration.  The  danger  of  an  over- 
whelming Oriental  immigration  can  be  obviated  by  a  general 
law  allowing  as  the  maximum  annual  immigration  from  any 
land,  a  certain  fixed  percentage  of  those  from  that  land  already 
here  and  naturalized. 

The  valid  principle  on  which  such  a  law  would  rest  is  the 
fact  that  newcomers  from  any  land  enter  and  become  assimilated 
to  our  life  chiefly  through  the  agency  of  those  from  that  land 
already  here.  These  know  the  languages,  customs  and  ideals  of 
both  nations.  Consequently,  the  larger  the  number  already 
assimilated,  the  larger  the  number  of  those  who  can  be  wisely 
admitted  year  by  year.  The  same  percentage  rate  would  permit 
of  great  differences  in  actual  numbers  from  different  lands. 

By  way  of  illustrating  this  suggestion,  consider  the  follow- 
ing outline  of  a  general  immigration  law. 

The  maximum  number  of  immigrants  in  a  single  year  from 
any  nation,  race  or  group  having  a  single  "mother  tongue"  shall 
be: 

Five  per  cent  of  those  from  that  land  already  naturalized 
American  citizens  including  their  American-born  children. 

In  addition  to  these  there  shall  also  be  admitted  from  any 
land  all  who  are  returning  to  America,  having  at  some  previous 
time  had  a  residence  here  of  not  less  than  three  years. 

All  immediate  dependent  relatives  of  those  who  have  had  a 
residence  here  of  not  less  than  three  years. 

All  who  have  had  an  education  in  their  own  land  equivalent 
to  the  American  high  school,  with  not  less  than  three  years' 
study  of  some  foreign  tongue. 

In  the  application  of  these  provisions,  individuals  who  come 
as  bona  fide  travelers,  government  officials,  students ;  in  a  word, 
all  who  are  provided  for  by  funds  from  their  native  land,  should 
not  be  counted  as  immigrants ;  but  merchants,  professionals, 
students,  and  all  others  who,  even  though  not  technically  labor- 
ers, yet  depend  on  their  own  efforts  in  this  land  for  a  living, 
should  be  so  reckoned. 

Applied  to  Germany  this  5  per  cent  rate  would  admit  as  many 
as  405,000  immigrants,  whereas  only  27,788  entered  in  1912. 
From  Great  Britain  363,500  might  enter,  whereas  82,979  came  in 
that  year.  Russian  immigration  would  be  diminished  from 


320  SELECTED    ARTICLES 

162,395  in  1912  to  a  possible  maximum  of  94,000;  while  immi- 
gration from  Italy  would  fall  from  157,134  to  54,850.  From 
Japan  220  immigrants  would  be  admitted  and  from  China  738. 

I  am  not  particularly  concerned,  however,  with  defending  the 
5  per  cent  rate  here  suggested.  I  merely  use  it  by  way  of  illus- 
tration. Those  better  acquainted  with  the  facts  of  immigration 
and  the  speed  of  social  assimilation  must  determine  just  what 
percentage  would  be  wise.  The  present  contention  centers  on 
the  point  that  whatever  the  wise  rate  may  be  it  should  be  applied 
equally  to  all  races.  This  principle  alone  avoids  the  difficulty 
of  invidious  races  discrimination. 

To  some  it  may  perhaps  seem  a  misnomer  to  call  this  plan  a 
new  Oriental  policy,  for  it  advocates  nothing  distinctive  regard- 
ing Orientals.  True  !  And  this  exactly  is  the  reason'  for  calling 
it  our  new  Oriental  policy.  It  is  a  policy  which  does  not  dis- 
criminate against  Asiatics,  and,  therefore,  it  is  new.  It  is  new 
both  in  its  spirit  and  in  its  concrete  elements. 

The  early  adoption  of  some  such  policy  as  this  is  important. 
Unless  something  is  done  promptly  there  is  every  reason  to 
anticipate  further  aggressive  anti-Japanese  legislation  in  Cali- 
fornia when  the  next  session  of  its  legislature  meets  (1915). 
Further  discriminative  legislation,  however,  would  still  further 
alienate  the  friendly  feeling  of  Japan  and  render  still  more 
complicated  and  difficult  of  solution  the  international  situa- 
tion. The  early  adoption  of  the  main  features  of  this  policy 
would  assure  California  on  the  one  hand  that  no  swamping 
Asiatic  immigration  is  to  be  allowed,  thus  securing  what  she 
demands.  It  would  also  satisfy  and  even  please  Japan,  granting 
the  substance  of  what  she  urges. 

In  regard  to  the  Chinese,  also,  the  situation  would  be  much 
improved.  The  fairness,  yet,  the  generosity  of  our  policy, 
adopted  by  us  with  no  pressure  from  her  side  would  serve  to 
strengthen  and  deepen  the  spirit  of  friendship  for  America  and 
render  still  more  effective  American  influence  in  guiding  that 
new  republic  through  the  troublous  times  that  are  surely  ahead. 

If  America  can  permanently  hold  the  friendship  and  trust 
of  Japan  and  China  through  just,  courteous  and  kindly  treat- 
ment, she  will  thereby  destroy  the  anti-white  Asiatic  solidarity. 
If  America  proves  to  Asia  that  one  white  people  at  least  does 
not  despise  the  Asiatics  as  such  nor  seek  to  exploit  them,  but 
rather,  on  a  basis  pf  mutual  respect  and  justice  seeks  their  reaj 


ON  IMMIGRATION  321 

prosperity,  Asia  will  discover  that  the  "white  peril"  is  in  fact 
an  inestimable  benefit.  And  that  change  of  feeling  will  bring 
to  naught  the  "ydl°w  peril"  now  dreaded  by  the  whites. 

Even  from  the  lower  standpoint  of  commercial  economic 
interests  the  policy  of  justice  toward  and  friendship  with  the 
Orient  is  beyond  question  the  right  one.  Armed  conflict,  or  even 
merely  sullen  hostility,  mightily  hampers  trade  success.  Rapid 
internal  development  in  China  and  a  rising  standard  of  life 
among  her  millions  means  enormous  trade  with  America,  if  we 
are  friendly  and  just.  And  unselfish  friendship  and  justice 
on  our  side  will  hasten  the  uplift  of  China's  millions.  Our  own 
highest  prosperity  is  inseparable  from  that  of  all  Asia.  So  long 
as  friendship  is  maintained  and  peace  based  on  just  international 
relations,  the  military  yellow  peril  will  be  impossible.  In  propor- 
tion as  the  scale  of  living  among  Asia's  working  millions  rises  to 
the  level  of  our  own  is  the  danger  of  an  economic  yellow  peril 
diminished. 

Every  consideration,  therefore,  of  justice,  humanity  and  self- 
interest  demands  the  early  adoption  of  the  general  principles  of 
this  new  Oriental  policy.  It  conserves  all  the  interests  of  the 
East  and  the  West  and  is  in  harmony  with  the  new  era  of  uni- 
versal evolution  of  mankind. 


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-  MAR  0  9  1994 


I  Q  i 


y 

7 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


